Ancient Enemy
by Empress Venus
Summary: The King of Pokélantis has returned, once more returning to Ash and has just one thing on his mind. Revenge.
1. Chapter 1

**Ancient Enemy**

* * *

Yep, this fic is back and even better than before. It's possessed Ash action all the way as the King of Pokélantis comes back, and there will be 100 percent more Team Rocket, plus no Paul. It's very different and should be worth a read.

Game Freak owns Pokémon. I do not own anything.

* * *

A small group of archaeologists stood outside the tall structure that rose before them, known as the Battle Pyramid. The Pyramid King himself stood before them, a tall man clad in green with silvery hair. His sharp eyes never once wavered from the people he was speaking to.

"On my journeys exploring ruins throughout Kanto, I have collected a lot of interesting artifacts I know you are all eager to see for yourself. However, I expect you all to be careful when looking at them." Brandon paused to clear his throat. "Some of them may be more dangerous than they look and you don't know what to expect, so don't do anything rash."

The archaeologists all nodded in understanding. At least they all seemed to be responsible adults who knew what they were doing, but after what had happened with that careless boy in the Pokélantis ruins, Brandon knew he couldn't be too careful. He didn't want anybody to unleash evil spirits or wind up destroying his pyramid with some ancient power contained inside an innocent looking object.

Perhaps it was a little risky to let these people in, but knowing about his habit of exploring ruins and learning that he'd picked up a few things on his way, they had been quite eager to have a look at his treasure hoard to help with their research. Brandon had decided he would allow them to take a look. It would be fine so long as he was there, wouldn't it?

"This should go without saying, but don't take anything from there. I will know if you do," Brandon warned, looking sterner for a moment. "Now, with those matters out of the way, I will allow you to enter the Battle Pyramid. Follow me." He turned and stepped through the open door, the group of archaeologists following him into the Pyramid.

They walked across the battle floor, Brandon leading the archaeologists to one of the doors at the other side of the room. A red-haired man wearing a bandanna approached as Brandon reached to open the door.

"I've just done another check of the room and taken inventory," he told Brandon. "Everything is as it should be. There isn't really going to be any trouble though, is there?"

"I should hope not," Brandon replied, glancing at his referee. "Thank you, Samuel. Now, everyone, prepare to see treasures that you may not have seen the likes of before. I'm sure there will be some surprising things in here."

Mutters of excitement rose from the crowd as he pulled the door open. Everyone filed into the room, the archaeologists looking around and gasping in amazement. Several rows of tables were lined up against the wall, cluttered with an assortment of objects. There were clearly a lot of valuable things in here that would not only be worth a lot, but would be very useful in the subject of Pokémon researching.

The room was filled with the noise of archaeologists excitedly talking as they studied the precious artifacts. Camera flashes repeatedly went off and notes were hastily scribbled into notebooks. After just a few minutes, Brandon was beginning to feel tired. He wasn't about to do something like this again if it was always going to be this crazy. At least he had his referee helping out to make sure that people didn't take anything while he was distracted.

The few archaeologists who weren't taking photographs and notes or demanding Brandon's attention were quietly looking at the artifacts. A young woman drifted to one of the less crowded tables at the side, her eyes roaming over the few items there. At the center sat what looked like a stone Poké Ball. As she stared at the stone sphere, she got the strange feeling that someone was calling out to her. It was an odd, unsettling feeling, but even as she was thinking about how strange it was, her hand was inadvertently reaching out as if to grasp that mysterious stone Poké Ball.

"Excuse me," an alarmed male voice said from behind her, causing her to stop and turn around in surprise. Samuel, the referee, was standing there with a worried look on his face as he regarded the blue haired woman. "Please don't touch that. It's very dangerous."

"Oh? I'm sorry," she said awkwardly, taking a step back. "I thought it was just some kind of Poké Ball." After that incident with those giant Pokémon at the ruins of Pokémopolis, she knew better than to be careless with rare and precious artifacts, but for a moment there, it was as if she had just lost herself.

"It looks like one at first sight, but that actually contains a dangerous spirit," replied Samuel. "A long time ago, the King of the ancient city, Pokélantis, sealed himself within that object. Brandon even had to battle to save a boy who was possessed by the evil spirit."

"I see." The woman turned back to gaze at the stone ball with a pensive expression. Was the voice calling to her the voice of the evil king itself? Did nobody else hear the sound of it speaking out to them or was it just her? "I'll be careful, I promise." She stood still, listening intently to the strange voice.

The words were hard to hear. It was a very faint, whispered voice that definitely sounded like a man speaking. She could only make out a few words if she listened to it hard enough. "Free me... Eve..."

She gasped in shock, startled by the last word she'd heard just now. Why, it sounded like he had really been saying her name, but how could that have been possible? Eve looked around cautiously, seeing that the man who had spoken to her before had now gone to a different part of the room. The other archaeologists were too absorbed in their work to pay any attention to her and even Brandon was too busy to watch one woman looking at his treasures.

Eve leaned over the table, looking more closely at the stone Poké Ball. Was the King of Pokélantis really speaking to her? He had to be, if he had said her own name, but how could he even know it in the first place? The voice was growing more insistent now, pleading with her to free him, but she knew better than to help an evil spirit. At least, she should have known better, but listening to that hypnotic voice was causing her to fall into a trance once more.

Her hand had just grasped the smooth stone when a fierce, tremendous quake suddenly shook the room. The fierce tremor ripping through the earth was strong enough to be felt through the thick walls of the Pyramid. Eve went flying back, the stone Poké Ball held fast in her grip and hit the floor sharply. The archaeologists screamed in panic, even as Brandon sharply told them to calm down. His Pyramid would not fall so easily and he knew perfectly well they would be fine, so there was very little need to panic.

Everyone was distracted by the sudden earthquake that had unexpectedly struck and none of them saw the strange blue aura that surrounded the stunned Eve. Nobody saw her quickly get to her feet and run through the open door, undeterred by the quake that was shaking the room. The quake calmed down after about a minute, much to the relief of everyone. A few artifacts had rolled off the table during the commotion, but everything else was intact and nobody appeared to be harmed.

"Is everybody okay?" Brandon asked, looking around to be sure while the alarmed people recovered their senses. "There may still be aftershocks, so be careful. It would be best to stay here for a while until we are sure things have calmed down. The Battle Pyramid is very sturdy, so you don't have anything to worry about." He walked over to pick up one of the objects that had fallen on the floor.

It wasn't until a few minutes later, when the archaeologists' work was done and they were about to leave the pyramid, that they realised one of their own was missing. The young woman, Eve, had gone missing without a word and none of them had realised until now. Upon hearing of her disappearance, Brandon allowed everyone to look through the building for her.

"What if she just left without saying anything?" a man asked, as everyone walked across the stadium floor, led by Brandon. "Maybe she remembered she had to go and do something else?"

"I'm sure the doctor wouldn't have just left without telling us," another person protested. "Surely someone would have noticed her leaving? Unless she left during that quake, but surely she would have been too terrified to move just like the rest of us were?"

Back in the treasure room, Samuel was doing the inventory check that Brandon had requested he do after the exhibit was over. He carefully checked off the items on the list, satisfied that everything seemed to be in place. It didn't take long to realise that there was one thing missing and it was the absolute last item that Brandon would want out of his sight. Samuel stared at the empty spot where the stone ball had been, his face paling.

Eve was the woman who had been staring at that stone sphere before, wasn't she? If she was gone and so was the spirit's container, then something must have just gone horribly wrong. Samuel turned and hurried from the room. He had to alert Brandon to the disaster straight away.

Brandon and the group of archaeologists were just coming out of another room when Samuel came running across the stadium toward them. "What's the matter now?" Brandon asked, noticing the younger man's pale face.

"The King of Pokélantis," Samuel gasped out, pointing toward the treasure room. "The stone sphere that was holding its spirit... it's just gone! And that woman, Eve... I remember, she was looking at it right before the earthquake hit and now she's gone too. I don't think it could possibly be just a coincidence."

"What?" Brandon exclaimed, looking stunned as he heard the unexpected news. It couldn't be possible that, after all this time sealed away in that stone ball, the evil spirit had finally managed to escape. That woman's strange disappearance had to be connected to it as well, but how could the King of Pokélantis have managed to pull something like that off? He hurried to the treasure room to see it for himself. The stone sphere was definitely gone, taking the evil King's spirit with it. "This is bad," Brandon murmured, looking grim.

* * *

Eve suspected there was a curse on her. First, there was the incident at the ruins of Pokémopolis, which had almost led to the destruction of Pallet Town and the world. She had blamed herself for it, but it hadn't affected her decision to be an archaeologist at all. Now she had got into this mess with an evil spirit who was the long dead King of Pokélantis. Eve had briefly heard of that place when looking up ancient civilisations and was aware that the ruins were somewhere in Kanto. If only she had been a little more careful and not fallen for that obvious trap, then she wouldn't be here right now.

Where was here anyway? It seemed that she was in some kind of dark place. The silence was eerie and the impenetrable darkness did not help matters. How had she even got here? First she had grabbed that stone ball then there was the quake that made her fall over and the darkness that followed, taking her away from the Battle Pyramid and her fellow archaeologists.

"Eve." The deep voice from before was back, speaking to her again. Eve jumped, startled by the sudden voice and looked around for the speaker. She couldn't see anybody through the darkness however and wasn't even sure what direction the voice was coming from for that matter. It seemed to be all around her. "You can't see me. I am nothing more than a spirit, a shadow of my self."

"You are the King of Pokélantis, right?" Eve asked nervously. "Where did you take me? Why was I the one you spoke to?"

"I don't exactly understand it myself. Somehow, I sensed your presence close by and I was even able to speak to you from within my prison, as well as work my spell upon you," said the King. "I don't know why, but it was convenient."

Eve swallowed nervously, wondering what she was supposed to do in the presence of an evil spirit. Was he planning to hurt her in some way? The thought of him planning to harm her unnerved her a great deal. "What do you want from me?"

"I needed the chance to escape from that accursed Pyramid King, Brandon, and I merely used you," said the King, sounding pleased with himself. "I'll bet that Brandon didn't see it coming. If only I could have seen the look on his face when he realised I had finally slipped through his grasp. I won't do anything to you for the time being since you aren't the one I am trying to get revenge on."

"Eh? Revenge?" Eve quietly gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. "Are you planning to get Brandon for... what was it again? Something to do with sealing you inside the stone ball, right?"

"I was the one who put myself there in the first place. He merely pulled my spirit back in there after that battle," answered the King. "Perhaps I will pay him back one day, but right now, I want to get to a certain person. The boy who I possessed, he broke through the control and found a way to release me. He ruined my plans for world domination and because of that, I am going to make him pay."

"Who is this boy?" Eve asked, a shiver passing through her body. So he really was evil, wanting to take over the world and even possessing an innocent person. Not only that, but he had been thinking of revenge the whole time. She was beginning to feel even more scared now, listening to him talk like this.

"Not once have I forgotten his name. I swore I wouldn't forget who he was and I still remember to this day." The King chuckled darkly. "His name is Ash Ketchum and he is from Pallet Town."

Eve looked blank for a moment as she tried to figure out why the name sounded so familiar. After a long silence in which she tried to remember, it then occurred to her and she gasped in shock. Ash was one of those children who had been there when she was investigating the ruins of Pokémopolis. It had been a long time since then, but she hadn't forgotten about them.

"I am going to get my revenge on him and you will help me get to him," the King declared. "I only need a vessel to help. Wherever he is, I will find him. Now, Eve, why don't you have a nice sleep while you wait?"

Suddenly, Eve was no longer aware of anything around her. She had fallen into a deep sleep as the evil spirit took over her mind. The King was in control, using her body for his means, and he wasn't worried about her interfering. He doubted that she would even be capable of breaking through for a second. Now that the King was free, there was one thing to do first and that was to find Ash Ketchum.

* * *

It had been a long and tiring two weeks, tracking down the elusive young Pokémon trainer. A trip to Pallet Town and a few questions had revealed that Ash was travelling in Sinnoh. Those people he had spoken to at that laboratory had looked at him quite oddly, perhaps because he did look and sound like a woman with an unfortunately deep voice. At least it hadn't prevented the old man and his assistant from revealing the precious information.

The next part had been travelling from Kanto to Sinnoh, by way of ship. The King had been careful to keep a low profile as he moved around, knowing people would be looking for the missing Eve. Once he was on a ship bound for Sinnoh, he could relax and not worry about being seen.

Most of the time had been spent during his travel in Sinnoh, passing from town to town in search of Ash Ketchum. Occasionally, he would find someone who had seen or heard of him recently, but they never knew where he was at that moment. Obviously, Ash liked to travel a lot. All this wandering through the country was beginning to tire him out, but the King never once gave up on his search for the boy he so desired to get his revenge on.

Then his luck had changed. He had been standing in one of those buildings that was called a Pokémon Center, curiously watching a crowd gathered around a screen on the wall. Apparently, this screen was interesting to them in some way. As he listened in to their hushed whispers, he figured out that this was the Wallace Cup, a contest of some kind, and people were competing in it for a mere ribbon.

Who needed a ribbon when world domination was so much more appealing? The King was about to turn away in disgust when he saw something on the screen that stopped him in his tracks. A familiar young boy in costume came rushing onto the stage and sent out a Buizel.

"Ash," the King muttered, clenching a fist tightly. "So I've finally found you." He turned and approached a man nearby who didn't seem so distracted by the contest. "That contest on the screen... where is it happening right now?"

"Eh?" The man looked stunned to hear the question. He was certainly more surprised about that than the fact that he had just been approached by a woman with an unnaturally deep voice. "You don't know about the Wallace Cup? It's at the Valor Lakefront and it's only the biggest event happening right now."

"I see. Could you tell me how to get there? I don't know my way around Sinnoh very well," said the King, sounding annoyed. Who did this person think he was, trying to make the great King of Pokélantis feel like a fool? He hadn't spent a thousand years in slumber and dreamed of world domination to learn about a few pathetic contests here and there.

"Well, if you go to Pastoria City which is south of here and then head east and north, you should soon reach the Hotel Grand Lake Resort. The Valor Lakefront is very close," the man replied, looking at him oddly. "You might also want to get something for that throat problem of yours."

The King just glared at him before turning and striding out of the building. It was true he got a lot of funny looks and strange comments when speaking to people, but the sheer number didn't make the comments any less irritating. It was a strange thing being in the body of a woman and he would be glad to have a chance to change bodies sooner or later, but that would not happen until the time was right.

He headed toward Pastoria City, excited at the thought of his chance for payback. Soon, he would meet up with that boy who had ruined his plans and then he would be able to exact sweet, delicious revenge. The King of Pokélantis just needed to think of the perfect plan now that he was so close. He couldn't afford to let anything ruin this for him now after he had waited so long for an opportunity.

This time, that irritating brat boy and his friends would learn just how much of a threat the King really was. They would pay for screwing his plans up.

The walk to Pastoria City took less than two days. He thought about what he would do next once he had arrived in the city. Ash would most likely turn up there sooner or later and he would be lying in wait. The boy would never see it coming. The plan sounded simple enough that he doubted anything could go wrong. Upon his arrival in the city, he immediately sought out one of those Pokémon Centers, knowing by now that trainers often stayed there on their journeys and Ash would almost certainly go there.

Eve had been asleep in her own body the whole time. Upon awakening, she sat up with a gasp of shock, looking around the dark void. It felt like she had been sleeping for quite a while now, a thought that made her feel afraid. How long had she been like this and when was the evil King planning to let her go?

"Eve. How was your nice, long sleep?" the King asked, sounding somewhat amused. He sensed her terror quite clearly. She was afraid of his presence and would surely like nothing more than for him to be gone. "It's been two weeks now. You are definitely not in Kanto anymore."

"I'm not in Kanto?" Eve asked querulously. "Then where am I? Why have you been holding onto my body for two weeks?" She broke off, shuddering and let out a weak sob. "Please just let me go! It isn't fair... I never did anything to you. Why are you treating me like this? I'm so scared."

"It's alright, Eve, I won't be troubling you for much longer now. I finally found his trail and if things go as planned, I will be seeing the Ketchum boy soon enough," the King said. "There is one very important thing I want you to do for me and you will do it, unless you want to die."

Eve froze, letting out a terrified whimper. The King was a frightening person and she had no doubt that he meant what he said. "So, if I do what you say, then that means you will leave me alone for good?"

"Yes, that is correct. You will be able to go back home and we will never meet again, but only so long as you follow my orders. If you don't, I can assure you that you'll regret it," the King warned her. "Now, listen carefully. See that window in front of you?"

Eve turned her head as a window suddenly appeared within the void, allowing her to see the world outside her body. She swallowed thickly and stared at the window with wide eyes. "I can see it," she mumbled. "What do I have to do?" She was so desperate to be freed, she would happily have done anything at that moment.

"There is a man standing right over there. You are to go up and touch him. Just a hand on the arm will do," the King told her. "Then you will be free."

"You are going to take that man's body?" Eve asked in a hushed voice, sounding shocked. A jolt of pain flashed through her body and she gasped, wincing in pain.

"No arguments," the King said in a cold voice. "Follow my orders."

Eve felt the control slipping away and rapidly blinked as she found herself looking through her own eyes. Her body felt so weak from the constant walking and lack of nourishment. The King had done very little to take care of her while he was possessing her and now she was suffering for it. Eve groaned quietly as she walked along the street, approaching the man who glanced at her out the corner of his eye. Eve hesitantly reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, startling him slightly. "Excuse me, sir," she said in a weak voice. "I..."

Then something unexpected happened that surprised them both. The King's sphere shot out of Eve's body, striking the man with full force and rapidly sinking into his own body before he even had time to react. Eve took a step back, her mouth hanging open in horror as she began to comprehend what she had done. The King turned his dark gaze on her, his mouth stretching in a grin.

"This vessel will do," he spoke, sounding pleased. "I have no need for you anymore. Run away, you pathetic wretch."

A terrified sob burst from Eve's throat and she turned around, running as fast as she could down the street. All she wanted to do was get far away from the King of Pokélantis. Relief surged through her as she made her escape, glad to finally be free from the King's terrifying power.

The King of Pokélantis turned around and faced the Pokémon Center, his mouth stretching in a grin. "I will be waiting for you, Ash," he murmured, chuckling softly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ancient Enemy**

* * *

No less than a week later, Ash and company had turned up in Pastoria City. However, they hadn't immediately gone to the Pokémon Center. In typical fashion, Ash had gone straight to the Gym, hoping to have a battle against the gym leader, Crasher Wake. That gym battle hadn't come to pass yet due to the Croagunk Festival happening that very night, an event Brock had been delighted to enter his own Croagunk in.

"I'm definitely way too tired to train for the gym now," Ash sighed as the three trainers walked through the city toward the Pokémon Center. He felt tired enough to simply drop to the ground and fall asleep right there. "Well, there's always tomorrow, if I squeeze it in before the gym battle."

"That festival was a lot of fun though," Dawn said happily, swinging a gift bag by her side. She reached down and rummaged in the bag. "Hey, Ash, do you want to see what I got while I was at the stalls?"

Ash looked back over his shoulder, startled at the sight of Croagunk's face looming in his line of vision. Dawn's addition of an eerie sounding "Croooo..." didn't help matters any. "Gah! Don't do that!" he screamed, backing away quickly.

Dawn took the mask away and chuckled in amusement at Ash's reaction. It wasn't the first time she had tricked him with a mask and he'd still reacted like that. "You fall for that every time. So how was my Croagunk impression? Did I sound enough like Brock's?"

"The moment you did that, I was sure I was about to feel a Poison Jab all of a sudden," Brock cut in, looking thoroughly creeped out by her realistic imitation of Croagunk. He was fond of his Pokémon, but sometimes Croagunk could be a little creepy and it never hesitated to punish him when he was flirting with the latest woman of his dreams.

"What else did you get?" Ash asked, glancing at the bag curiously. "No more tricks this time, please," he added.

"Pika, pi." Pikachu, sitting upon his shoulder, nodded in agreement. He had also been caught by surprise when Dawn did that sudden act without any warning and it had freaked him out as well.

"I also got some things that I thought you two might like," Dawn told them as she reached into the bag and rummaged around. She then extracted a small, blue object and held it out to the tall Pokémon breeder. "Here's a Croagunk doll for you, Brock. Isn't it cute?"

"I feel like it's staring at me," Brock muttered, gazing at the Croagunk figure's eyes that seemed to be penetrating his very soul with their vacant stare. The painted toothy grin didn't help matters either. He wasn't sure he could sleep peacefully at night with this thing sitting by his bed, for fear that it would be attacking him with a sudden and unexpected Poison Jab while he slept.

"Ash, this is for you," Dawn said, this time pulling out a blue and orange baseball cap with a picture of Croagunk on the front. "In case you ever feel like wearing a different hat for a change," she added as she handed it over to him.

"Uh... thanks?" Ash held the hat, staring at it with a bewildered expression. He was certainly never going to be wearing this in a million years. The dark-haired Pokémon trainer stuffed the hat away in his pocket, smiling awkwardly.

"Did you get anything for yourself?" Brock enquired as they resumed walking toward the Pokémon Center.

"No, just the mask," Dawn responded, smiling. "Most of the stuff they were selling was a bit weird anyway. I just thought you guys might like some gifts." She stretched her arms over her head and folded them. "I'm still not sure why they have a festival for such a creepy Pokémon."

"Hey, Croagunk's not that creepy..." Brock hesitated. "Well, maybe a little."

The trio came to a stop outside the Pokémon Center and walked through the doors into the lobby. Nurse Joy had already returned to the Pokémon Center before them and was standing in front of her desk, ready to greet the trainers.

"Okay, guys, let's go get ourselves a room." Ash paused to stop and stretch his arms, letting out a brief yawn. Pikachu hopped down from his shoulder to the floor at the motion. "I'm getting really tired."

"Whoah." Dawn looked around with an expression of sheer disbelief. There were Croagunk dolls sitting on the counter, a Croagunk statue in a corner and painted Croagunks even decorated the walls. "There are Croagunks everywhere. I really hope the rooms don't look like this." She thought she would have a hard time sleeping if that was the case.

"Nurse Joy!" Brock bounded toward the counter, where Nurse Joy was standing and waiting for the trainers to finish coming through for the night. She was tired after having participated in the festival, but her duties came before sleep. "I hope to have good dreams tonight, but there is one dream that I really want to come true on this night." He continued speaking as Nurse Joy gave him a mildly amused look.

"Great, Brock's flirting again," Ash groaned, looking agonised. "So much for getting a room quickly. Anyway, I gotta go to the men's quickly. Drank way too much soda at the festival." He turned and left, hurrying toward the toilets.

"Typical Ash," Dawn muttered, smiling. He had stuffed his face full of Croagunk pies along with drinking all that soda. She was surprised he had been able to hold it all in until now. "I think he enjoyed that festival a bit too much." That ridiculous dancing she had refused to join in with had been a fine example. How could he not have felt embarrassed dancing like that with all those people?

"Pikachu," Pikachu spoke in agreement and nodded his head.

"Well, at least we had fun tonight." Dawn looked up toward Piplup who was sitting on her head with a happy smile. She turned suddenly as she heard Brock let out a pained gasp and immediately realised what had happened. Croagunk reached out and took hold of his fallen trainer, dragging him away. With her attention focused on Brock, she did not notice the unfamiliar man walking across the lobby in the direction that Ash had previously gone.

Inside the toilets, Ash was standing before one of the sinks and washing his hands. He looked up as the door opened and saw a man enter, but thought nothing of it. He turned off the tap and reached for some paper towels to wipe his hands dry, unaware that the man was now just standing there and watching him with an intent gaze. Ash then walked over to the disposal bin and dropped the paper towels. He was just about to turn back toward the door when the man suddenly walked up behind him and clamped a hand over his mouth.

Ash's eyes widened in shock and he let out a muffled yell as the man kept his hand firmly against his face, preventing him from crying out. The panicked boy clutched at the hand with his fingers, trying to pry it off but the man's grip was too strong. The man wrapped his arm around Ash's chest and forcefully dragged him backward, pulling him into one of the toilet stalls. Ash kicked and struggled to no avail, his heart racing furiously.

What was going on here? His mind was spinning and he felt afraid, wondering why a man he had never seen before was attacking him like this. Ash looked up to see the man swing the door shut and then he was whirled around, the man slamming his back sharply against the wall of the cubicle and pinning him by the arms.

Ash raised his head to stare up into the man's dark gaze, breathing rapidly. His brown eyes were filled with panic and fear as he tried to figure out what was happening. There was nothing familiar about the man's face and he had no idea who he could possibly be. There was something about the deep, dark pools that were the man's eyes that looked almost inhuman. His mouth was stretched in a wide smirk as he stared at his captive.

"Who are you?" Ash finally asked, clenching his teeth furiously. If this was supposed to be some idea of a joke, he sure wasn't finding it amusing in the least. However, the man's expression told him that this really was no joke and he had the horrible feeling that he might even be in danger.

The man's only response was a soft chuckle that sent a severe chill rushing along Ash's spine. One hand moved up from his arm toward his neck and wrapped around his throat. Ash let out a choked cry as he was suddenly lifted off his feet, alarmed by the man's amazing strength. His eyes widened in horror as he felt the hand squeeze and cut off his breath.

"You don't remember me, do you, Ash?" the man asked him, grinning nastily. "I remember you very well."

"Stop..." Ash pleaded in a strained voice, his mouth gaping open as he struggled to take a breath. He desperately kicked out at the man and scrabbled at his treacherous grip with his hands, struggling to get it loose. Fear seized his body in its grip and he let out a panicked whimper.

"I came all this way to get revenge on you after you screwed up my plans, you vile brat," the man told him, sneering derisively. Ash's futile attempts to break free had no effect on him as he continued to choke the horrified young Pokémon trainer. "You thought you would never see me again, didn't you? Well, you were wrong. I have returned and I intend to show you just what I am capable of."

Ash couldn't hold on any longer and the red spots forming in his vision turned to darkness as he lost consciousness. The man dropped his limp body to the floor and gazed down at Ash with a cold smirk. So far, so good. His plan was going very well.

A few minutes later, Ash had not re-emerged from the toilets and Brock and Dawn were starting to become painfully aware of this fact as they stood in the lobby, wondering what could possibly be taking him so long to return.

"Ash would do very well in a pissing contest," Dawn grumbled in an impatient tone. "I didn't think he drank that much soda."

"Something must have happened." Brock looked concerned. Ash had been gone for almost ten minutes now and that was certainly unusual. "I'll go and check on him." He walked over to push open the door leading into the men's toilets and stepped into the room. "Ash, are you okay?" he called out, stepping further inside and letting the door swing shut behind him.

When he saw the state of the room, Brock let out a horrified gasp. Blood was streaming across the floor in a glimmering crimson puddle. The metallic scent of the blood flooded his nostrils and he took a step back, feeling reviled.

"Ash... no..." Brock whispered, pressing himself against the wall as he stared at the bloodstains everywhere. It wasn't just on the floor, but smeared over the cubicles and even on the walls in the form of smudged scarlet handprints. Bloody footprints ran from the puddle toward the open window. Blood had been smeared beneath the window as well, in the form of messily written letters that he couldn't make out from where he was standing.

Brock took a deep breath and tried to compose himself, his body shaking as he continued to stare at the blood. Was that blood really Ash's? He swallowed heavily, forcing back the bile which threatened to rise and hesitantly approached the stall where the blood was coming from, taking great care not to step in it. Of course, Brock knew better than to risk messing up what was obviously a crime scene, but he had to see for himself who was lying inside that stall.

As he peered around the partly open door, he caught sight of an unfamiliar man lying prone on the floor, blood seeping out from his neck. Judging by the amount of blood that was everywhere, the artery in his neck had been severed and the man was clearly already dead. Brock stepped back, feeling a mix of relief and horror. He was glad that it wasn't Ash lying inside that stall, but then where was he? What if the murderer had taken off with him? There was no way that Ash could have been the one to kill that person. Brock turned around and ran out of the toilets.

"Brock, what's the matter?" Dawn asked upon seeing his pale face.

Brock ran to the counter and stopped to catch his breath as he looked at Nurse Joy with a grim expression. "Nurse Joy, something terrible has happened in the toilets. Somebody has been murdered!"

"Murdered?" Dawn echoed. Her eyes widened in shock as she immediately imagined the worst. "That can't be..." she whispered.

"What?" Nurse Joy asked incredulously, her mouth dropping open. "Someone was murdered right here? If that's supposed to be a joke, then it's not terribly funny." She pursed her lips together, looking disturbed.

"This is serious," Brock insisted. "There's a man lying dead in the toilets and blood everywhere. You have to contact the police at once and let them know about this crime."

"Brock, what's going on?" Dawn came up behind him. "Where is Ash?"

Brock turned around and gazed at her, shaking his head slowly. "I have no idea," he spoke in a faint tone. "He wasn't there. Instead, I found the body of some man I've never seen before." He glanced over at Nurse Joy, who was now frantically dialling at the computer.

Dawn gasped and put a hand over her mouth. She couldn't imagine such a thing happening, but it had. Who could possibly have taken the life of a man in a Pokémon Center and why had Ash suddenly vanished without a word? "That's awful," she whispered, dropping her hand. "I just can't believe it. That poor man. And Ash... what happened to him?" Tears stung the back of her eyes as she imagined him out there at the mercy of some crazy killer.

"We're going to find out," Brock said quietly. "I just hope it isn't too late when we do."

* * *

Ash weakly opened his eyes and sat up, blinking as he looked at the murky red shapes shifting within the darkness. This was definitely not somewhere inside the Pokémon Center. There was something familiar about this place, but he couldn't quite remember when he had seen something like this before. He wrapped his arms around himself and shivered, feeling creeped out by the darkness that surrounded him. "How did I even get here?" he whispered to himself, looking around warily.

The last thing he remembered was choking in that man's grip before he had lost consciousness. Those dark eyes filled with evil flashed through his mind and a chill feeling crept up his spine. Why had that man attacked him in the toilet and who was he supposed to be? Ash was quite sure he had never seen that man before in his life, but somehow the man had known who he was and even talked about getting revenge on him. What could he possibly have done that warranted such cruelty?

"Is anyone there?" Ash shouted into the darkness, getting to his feet and looking around. He was greeted with dead silence. Wherever he was, he was completely alone. Ash started walking, not knowing where he was going but desperate to get somewhere. All he could see was the murky gloom and nothing else around him as he continued to walk. It didn't look like he was even getting anywhere at this rate. Just what was it that this place reminded him of?

Then it occurred to him and Ash suddenly stopped. "No way," he muttered to himself, a frown creasing his brow. "That couldn't be possible." The only time he remembered seeing something as weird as this place was when he was possessed by the spirit of an evil king. What were the chances that he could even have managed to get possessed again? It just seemed far too crazy. There had to be some rational explanation for what was happening.

Soft footsteps could be heard, approaching from behind him. Ash whirled around and his mouth dropped open as he found himself looking at an exact copy of himself. The replica was perfect, save for the face which was horribly disfigured by an evil grin. His hair stuck out even more than Ash's possibly could and his eyes were not a warm brown but rather entirely black and soulless. Ash took a step back, startled by the sight before him.

"Who are you?" Ash whispered in a tremulous voice. "Why do you look like me?" His voice rose and he clenched a fist, feeling his fingernails dig sharply into his palm.

"I only look like you because I am in your body," the doppelganger responded in a cold voice. "So you really don't remember me, do you? I suppose it has been a long time since we last met."

"That voice." Ash gritted his teeth, his eyes narrowing in fury. "You were that man who attacked me in the toilets!" he shouted.

"Correction, I was using his body. He proved to be a useful vessel until the very end, but I killed him anyway. Thought I would cause a little drama for everybody," replied the evil spirit, a dark chuckle emitting from his throat. "Come on, Ash, can't you figure it out already? You should know who I am."

Ash rushed forward and grabbed him by the jacket. "Just who are you?" he asked loudly. "I don't know what you want with me. How could you even kill someone just for the fun of it?" He trailed off, his eyes widening slightly. "You couldn't possibly be the King of Pokélantis, could you?" It didn't seem possible, but it was the only explanation for this. Some evil being was in his body, swearing revenge on him, and there was only one evil spirit he could remember ever having taken his body.

"Finally," the King spoke, his mouth stretching in a wide grin. "Maybe you aren't quite as dense as I thought."

"No way." Ash released him and stepped back, shaking his head in bewilderment. "You were sealed back in the stone ball. How could you possibly have managed to get out? Brandon took it with him, didn't he? He wouldn't have just let anyone else take it away."

"Well, it seems that the Pyramid King got a little careless. He should have kept a better eye on his stuff," the King replied. "I took the body of a woman and used her to come after you, all the way over to Sinnoh. I let her go and used another body so that I could get to you and now here I am, back in your body. Your annoying rat isn't going to be shocking you out of me this time. Nobody even knows where you are."

"You just took my body and ran off with it?" Ash's mouth felt dry with nervousness. He had never expected to see the King of Pokélantis again and had no idea what the evil spirit was planning to do to him. He had even killed an innocent man for the fun of it. "You even had to go and kill someone just because you felt like it? You really are evil." He felt sick, looking at the King's devious smirk. This was the same King who had attempted to use a Pokémon to take over the world and his entire civilisation was destroyed because of his actions.

"All I wanted was to have the world in my grasp," the King whispered in a reverent voice. "I would not just have been the King of my own city, but the ruler of the world. However, that blasted Ho-Oh had to turn against me and my people. They were all destroyed by that accursed Pokémon and I have been waiting to get my revenge. I waited for a thousand years and you freed me, only to screw up my plans. I am going to make you pay for what you have done."

"You won't get away with this!" Ash exclaimed, clenching a fist and looking defiant. "My friends will find me and Pikachu will get you of my body again, then we'll seal you back where you belong!"

The King threw his head back and laughed in derision, amused by Ash's confidence. "Wrong, brat," he said finally, giving Ash a chilling smile and flashing his rows of teeth. "I am the King of Pokélantis and there is nothing that can stop me. I won't let anyone get in my way, not this time." He turned and walked away, disappearing into the darkness so quickly that Ash didn't even have a chance to stop him from leaving.

"Hey, wait! Come back here!" Ash shouted furiously after him. Only the dead silence greeted his angry shout. He gazed into the darkness with a horrified expression, his spirits sinking. The King of Pokélantis had returned and was in control of his body again. He had a very bad feeling about this.


	3. Chapter 3

**Ancient Enemy**

* * *

"Everyone, please try to stay calm," Nurse Joy said loudly, facing the group of alarmed Pokémon trainers standing before her. The police were swarming around the Pokémon Center, taking notes and interviewing everyone present as they tried to find clues to the murder of the man in the toilets. The body had already been removed from the building, but the police remained and the trainers were alarmed after hearing about a murder in the Pokémon Center. The harried nurse was doing her best to keep them under control.

"This is so awful." Dawn sat in a chair, resting her chin in her hands and sighing despondently. Her eyes glittered with unshed tears. "A man is dead and Ash has disappeared. What kind of person would do something like this?" She looked up toward Brock in worry. "Do you think that Ash was kidnapped?" It was the only scenario that fit in her mind. Ash couldn't have been the one to kill that man and she supposed there had to be at least three people in there at the time. The murdered man, the person who had murdered him and Ash himself. If Ash was gone, that probably meant he had been kidnapped by that killer and the thought chilled her.

"I don't know." Brock massaged his forehead tiredly. His face was pale and drawn with anxiety. "I saw that scene myself. I can still remember it so clearly and I just think that something wasn't quite right about it." He paused, thinking intently. "The window was open, so that was how they would have got out, I suppose. However, there's something that doesn't quite make sense."

"What do you mean?" Dawn tilted her head, confusion flickering over her face. She looked up as Officer Jenny walked over to them. The normally cheerful police officer had a somber expression on her face and dull eyes.

"This is the very first ever murder case I have had to deal with," Officer Jenny spoke quietly, lowering her head. "Your help would be very much appreciated in finding the criminal who did this." She turned to look at Brock. "You were the one who found the body, correct?"

"Yes, that's right, Officer Jenny," Brock responded. "I was looking for our friend who had gone in there about ten minutes before and instead I ended up finding that body." He shuddered at the memory. The discovery of a dead body was something he was never going to forget.

"You have no idea where your friend is now?" Officer Jenny asked. "For that matter, do you think he might be capable of committing a crime?"

"No!" Dawn exclaimed with a shocked expression. "Ash definitely did not kill that man! He's a nice, caring person and he would never hurt anybody else."

"Believe me, Officer Jenny, there is no way that Ash could possibly do such a thing," Brock said firmly. "I think he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whoever killed that man in there must have kidnapped him. There's no other reason I can see why he would just disappear on us."

"There was only one set of footprints leading up to that window." Officer Jenny pressed her lips together thinly. "I'm not sure if that window was even big enough for an adult to fit through. Even if there was someone in there small enough to fit through, they would have to be very strong to simply pick him up and push him through a window."

"Ash didn't do it," Dawn said in a small voice, her lower lip wobbling. "Please believe us, Officer Jenny. Something really weird must be going on, because Ash is not a killer."

Officer Jenny let out a long sigh. "I'll take your word for it, but someone killed that man and I want to find them." She fell silent for a moment, thinking. "There was another thing that was rather strange about that crime scene. Whoever it was had left words written on the wall in blood."

"I remember that, but I didn't get close enough to read them," Brock told her. "What did those words say?"

"Long live the King," Officer Jenny responded quietly, looking disturbed. She looked intently at the two. "Do either of you know what that might mean?" At the sight of their bewildered expressions, she exhaled. "I don't understand it either. It might be a clue to the killer and it's all we have right now. Thank you for your help." She flashed a wan smile at them and turned, walking away briskly toward the crowd of trainers.

"Long live the King?" Dawn repeated in confusion, shaking her head. "I don't think there even are any kings in Sinnoh. Whatever that meant, I doubt they were talking about a real king." She picked up Piplup and wrapped her arms around it, resting her chin on its head.

"Could be a name, maybe," Brock said doubtfully. "We actually did meet a king once, sort of..." He paused, shaking his head. "No, it couldn't possibly be, could it?"

"What?" Dawn jerked her head up, her eyes widening. "Have you got an idea, Brock? Just spit it out already."

"Pika, pika!" Pikachu agreed insistently. He was desperate for them to find his lost trainer as soon as possible.

"It's a long story." Brock folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall, recalling the incident. "It was back in Kanto, when Ash and I were travelling with May and Max during Ash's Battle Frontier quest. At one point, we ended up falling down into some ancient ruins underground. It was in those ruins that we met the Pyramid King Brandon and he told us about those ruins and what they were there for."

"Ancient ruins, huh?" Dawn leaned forward, listening intently to Brock's story.

"Long ago, there was a civilisation called Pokélantis, ruled by an evil King who attempted to use Ho-Oh in order to take over the world, but it backfired and Ho-Oh destroyed all of Pokélantis," Brock continued. "The King survived and swore to get revenge on Ho-Oh by sealing it in a stone ball, which was said to be placed within those underground ruins. Of course, Ash went running off to go and find that stone ball. However, Ho-Oh was not inside it."

"Then what was?" Dawn asked.

"The spirit of the evil King himself," Brock responded. "He took Ash's body and Brandon had to battle him in order to save Ash. Pikachu managed to shock him out after the battle was over and the King was resealed within that stone ball. Brandon probably kept it, as far as I know."

"So, do you think the King might have got out of that stone ball somehow?" Dawn sat back in the chair with a thoughtful expression. It didn't really sound so likely and maybe they were clutching at straws, trying to figure out what was happening.

"If he did, well, he might have a motive to go after Ash and kidnap him," Brock said tersely. "Only an evil person would have killed that man in the toilets. There was only one set of footprints and the window was too small for an adult to fit through. Ash could have fit through it with no problem."

"What are you trying to say?" Dawn turned her horrified gaze on the Pokémon breeder.

"The way things look, Ash could be possessed again," Brock said grimly. "That evil spirit could have returned, stolen his body and run off after killing that man. Perhaps he was even possessing the man when he went after Ash." He felt cold inside, thinking about Ash being at the mercy of an evil spirit that wanted nothing more than to take over the world and possibly get revenge as well.

"Pikapi," Pikachu spoke in a quiet, sad voice, his ears lowering. He was saddened by the idea of Ash being in danger and they had no idea where he was, a worrying thought indeed.

"This is unbelievable," Dawn whispered, a tear streaking along her pale cheek. The idea of an evil spirit that went around taking people's bodies was terrifying, and now an innocent man was dead because of that evil spirit. She was scared, wondering what the King might be planning to do to Ash.

* * *

The sunlight fell upon his face, rousing the King of Pokélantis from his slumber. He shifted against the rough bark of the tree and raised a hand to shield his eyes, blinking rapidly as he looked up toward the clear sky. "So it's morning now," he noted with satisfaction. Now that Ash's body was well rested after that night's sleep, he could start planning what to do next. He was already having some fairly good ideas. The King rose to his feet and walked away from the tree.

It wouldn't be long before the King had decided the best way to cause Ash pain and make him suffer for what he had done. "Just you wait, Ash," he whispered in a soft voice, his eyes gleaming deviously. "You are going to pay shortly."

As the King walked along the path, he was unaware that he was being watched. Two people and a Meowth were crouched behind the shrubbery nearby, watching him intently.

"Something's not right here," the lavender haired male spoke, frowning as he looked at his team mates. "Where's Pikachu?"

"The other twerps aren't there either," his redheaded female companion observed. "Well, the twerp's alone and without Pikachu, that surely means an easy steal for us."

"Hey, you're right." James looked toward Ash again with a grin on his face. "Pikachu isn't there to blast us off and the twerp must have some Pokémon with him. We'll just get them first and then get Pikachu later."

"It's time to pilfer some Pokémon!" Meowth chuckled deviously, rubbing his paws together.

"Good thing we already have the balloon ready," Jessie said, glancing at the Meowth balloon behind them. "We'll launch a surprise attack and the twerp won't know what hit him until it's too late."

The Team Rocket trio turned away from the bushes and hurried toward the balloon, jumping into the basket. The balloon rose into the sky as it was fired up and they hunted around inside the basket for the supplies, soon finding what they needed.

The King came to a stop as a shadow passed over him and he sharply looked up to see a net fall down over his head, while a Meowth shaped balloon hovered up in the sky. He fell to the ground as the net dragged his body down and glared up at the three figures who could be seen in the basket, figuring that they were the ones who had dropped the net. "What is this?" the King asked, looking displeased as he laced his fingers through the net and tugged at it.

The balloon came down before him and Jessie, James and Meowth jumped out, preparing to launch into their motto.

"Is that a voice I hear?"

"It's calling to me loud and clear."

"On the wind."

"Past the stars."

"In your ear."

"Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace."

"Dashing hope, bringing fear in its place."

"A rose by any other name smells just as sweet."

"When everything's worse, our work is complete."

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"And Meowth, now dat's a name!"

"Putting the do-gooders in their place,"

"Team Rocket..."

"We're in your face!"

"How pathetic," the King snapped, pulling out the knife from his pocket. The blade was crusted over with dried brown blood, but it was still sharp enough to easily cut through the net and he did so with little effort. Jessie, James and Meowth gasped in shock and indignation as he threw off the slashed net and casually tossed it aside. "I have no time to waste dealing with a bunch of pathetic clowns like you," he added coldly, his eyes narrowing.

"Big words for someone who's up against all three of us," Jessie snapped, taking hold of Seviper's Poké Ball. "You don't have any room to talk, twerp."

"Yeah, seeing as you don't have Pikachu with you, we should have an easy time of stealing your Pokémon," James added, reaching out to take Carnivine's Poké Ball.

"Stealing my Pokémon?" The King chuckled in amusement and the dark aura around him began to pulse. Tendrils of energy poured out of him and Jessie and James stared in stunned disbelief as the tendrils snatched the Poké Balls from their hands as well as the ones at their waists. "Perhaps I should steal your Pokémon instead so that I can use them for my army of darkness." He took the Poké Balls in his hands and chuckled.

"Hey, what gives?" Meowth exclaimed, looking bewildered. He started and shook his head. "We're da ones stealing the Pokémon here, twerp!" he said fiercely.

"I didn't know the twerp could do that." James had an astonished expression on his face. "Have we ever seen the twerp do that?"

"Stop wondering about it and do something!" Jessie exclaimed. She picked up Meowth and threw him forward. "You're the only Pokémon we've got, Meowth, so you'll have to do it. Get our Pokémon back from that twerp and his as well."

Meowth blinked in confusion for a second then nodded. If he had to help them out, then he would. "Have a taste of my Fury Swipes!" he yelled, charging toward the King.

"This is getting ridiculous." The King dropped the Poké Balls to the ground and withdrew his knife, which he had previously put back in his pocket. As Meowth came leaping toward him, one paw raised and ready to slash him across the face, he lashed out with the knife. Meowth cried out in pain and dropped to the ground.

"Meowth!" Jessie and James exclaimed together in shock.

"Dat twerp cut me!" Meowth howled, pressing a paw against the shallow cut on his face. Beads of blood welled up, staining his fur crimson.

"Listen," the King said in a cold voice, raising a foot and slamming it down on Meowth's chest. He pressed it down hard, smirking as Meowth let out an agonised yell and wriggled around underneath his foot. His face was contorted in pain. "Like I said, I have no time to deal with you losers." The King raised the knife, the blade glinting brightly and leaned over, holding it before Meowth's face. "I killed a man last night. All I had to do was slice his throat and he bled out everywhere."

"What's going on here?" James was now clinging to Jessie with a terrified expression.

"I don't know, but this is bad." Jessie looked equally as terrified. They both knew there was something not right about the way that he was behaving. Ash would never have acted in such a manner.

"I could do the same for this Meowth here." The King lowered the knife until it was positioned above Meowth's neck. Meowth looked down toward the blade and gulped, swallowing heavily. "I could slash his throat nice and quick." He straightened, looking toward Jessie and James with a cold smirk. "Then I could do the same to both of you. I'm not afraid to kill anybody who tries to get in my way. Well? Do you want to die?" He cocked his head.

"Of course we don't want to die!" James squealed, his eyes widening. This just wasn't right. What was the twerp doing threatening them with a knife and what was with all that talk of killing people?

"Let Meowth go! We'll stop trying to steal your Pokémon for now, we swear." Jessie bit her bottom lip, hoping that would be enough to make him leave them alone.

"Sensible choice." The King raised his foot and slammed it down on Meowth again, much harder this time. Meowth cried out as the impact managed to crack a couple of his ribs. His face screwed up in pain as the King picked him up and sharply flung him against a tree. Jessie and James fell silent in horror as a crack rang through the air.

"Don't get in my way again," the King said coldly, walking past the stunned Rockets.

"What was that?" James whispered when he was out of sight. "That can't have been the twerp."

"The twerp's evil twin maybe," Jessie said shakily, as they ran over to Meowth. He lay on the ground unconscious and they could see one arm bent at an angle that was clearly not right. Darkening bruises could be seen beneath the fur on his chest.

"This isn't good. He seems to have several bones broken." James swallowed a lump in his throat. How could they have let their friend get so badly hurt?

"If we don't get him help, he might..." Jessie trailed off, unwilling to say it. "We have to take him to the Pokémon Center."

"Have you forgotten who it was who took down our mecha last night?" James looked at her in disbelief.

"Well, we'll just have to try!" Jessie exclaimed. "No Nurse Joy would just let a Pokémon die. She'll have to help Meowth, right?"

"I guess there's no choice." James nodded. "Let's hurry then."

After gathering up their Poké Balls, they quickly got into the balloon's basket with Meowth and it lifted off, drifting away toward Pastoria City. As soon as they were close enough to the city, they lowered the balloon again. James held Meowth carefully in his arms as the two of them ran toward the Pokémon Center. They were just in front of the building when Brock and Dawn stepped through the doors and caught sight of them.

"It's you guys!" Dawn exclaimed as she saw them. "What are you planning now?" She looked at them with a fierce expression.

"You had better not be planning to rob the Pokémon Center," Brock joined in. "We won't let you do that."

"Will you be quiet and let us pass?" Jessie yelled at them, her face contorted in annoyance. "We're only here to get Meowth help, so get out of our way!"

"Your twerpy friend thought it would be funny to scare us all and then beat up Meowth." James held up the unconscious feline Pokémon. His gaze dropped toward Pikachu. "Why do you even have the twerp's Pikachu?"

"Wait, what?" Dawn blinked. "Our twerpy friend? You mean Ash?"

"Did he do that?" Brock walked over to look at Meowth with a horrified expression. "How could anybody put a Pokémon in such a state? You had better get him in there immediately."

Nurse Joy was astonished to see the two members of Team Rocket come into the Pokémon Center, with Brock and Dawn. She stared at them with a displeased frown, placing her hands on her hips. "I remember you two. You were the ones who tried to steal all the Croagunk last night at the festival."

"You have to help Meowth!" James placed Meowth on the desk before her. "Please!"

"We know that we're bad guys, but Meowth really needs your help," Jessie pleaded. "We've never seen him in such bad shape before."

Nurse Joy took one look at Meowth and gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth. She rarely ever did see a Pokémon so badly hurt as Meowth appeared to be right now.

"If it makes you feel any better, we'll watch them and make sure they don't do anything," Dawn assured her.

Nurse Joy turned toward the computer and started tapping on it. A minute later, a Chansey came forward with a stretcher and Meowth was lifted onto it. "I will help Meowth as best as I can," she said, looking at Jessie and James with a serious expression. "However, you two should feel bad for letting your Pokémon get into such an awful state. Please be more careful next time." She walked away with the Chansey and the stretcher, heading toward the emergency room.

"It wasn't our fault," Jessie said in a small voice. "Was it?"

"He was threatening to cut Meowth's throat. What could we do?" James leaned against the counter with a rueful expression.

"Something really bad is going on here." Dawn crossed her arms and sighed. "First a man dies, then Meowth gets badly hurt. I guess Ash really is possessed."

"Possessed?" Jessie and James repeated, turning around to look at Brock and Dawn in confusion.

"Ash disappeared last night," Brock explained. "A man was found dead in the toilets here and Ash was just gone. We haven't seen him since and we have reason to think that he might actually have been taken by an evil spirit."

"Well, the twerp definitely wasn't himself when we saw him earlier," Jessie said. "He was being all scary, waving around this bloody knife, talking about how he had killed a man and threatened to kill us. I think he really would have."

"Yeah, look at what he did to Meowth," James said grimly. "He even did this weird stuff where there was this, well, something floated out of him and it just grabbed our Poké Balls. He talked about stealing our Pokémon, but he left them anyway."

"I see." Brock rubbed his chin, frowning. "It sounds like this is definitely the King of Pokélantis at work."

"Pokélantis? That sounds familiar." Jessie frowned.

"Didn't it have something to do with those freaky ruins we were searching when we were looking for Ho-Oh?" James recalled. "I think I remember that old guy talking about some King of Pokélantis. Oh yeah, and he was supposed to have captured Ho-Oh and it was supposed to be in those ruins, but we never did find it."

"Because it wasn't actually there," Brock told him, sounding slightly exasperated. Team Rocket were always trying to steal Pokémon and it would figure they had tried to steal a Ho-Oh. "But the evil spirit of the King was and it possessed Ash at the time, but we got it out and the King was sealed away. Now he's back."

"We have to find him and put a stop to this," Dawn said worriedly. "We can't let the King go and hurt anyone else, and we have to free Ash."

"We'll help too," James said, looking decisive. "After what he did to Meowth, we won't let this King of Pokélantis guy get away with it."

"Yeah, he will learn not to mess with Team Rocket." Jessie raised a fist, a fierce expression forming on her face.

"I guess you could help us," Dawn said uncertainly, looking toward Brock. "What do you think?"

"The more of us there are, the easier it might be," Brock replied. "Besides, they were the last ones to see Ash and they can help us." He looked at Jessie and James, nodding his head decisively. "Alright then, let's find that King and sort him out."


	4. Chapter 4

**Ancient Enemy**

* * *

Ash had been walking through the dark and empty place in his mind for a long time now and he was so tired of walking. His body felt ready to drop without any warning, but still he kept on going, trying to find some way out of the darkness and out of his mind. The King of Pokélantis had his body under control and he wanted to get it back. It was terrifying being stuck in his mind and not knowing what was going on out there, in the real world. What had the King been doing while he wandered through the darkness, searching for that way out? Was there even a way out of here or was he completely lost without his friends?

It was so lonely in this dark and empty place and he hated it. He longed to be reunited with his friends and Pikachu, without some evil King using his body. How could Brandon have let the King escape? Ash couldn't understand how the King could have managed to come all the way to Sinnoh and find him. Had he been possessing people for the sole purpose of hunting him down just so that he could get his longed for revenge?

"Are you listening to me?" Ash shouted in the darkness, wondering if the King could actually hear him. He clenched his fists. "Let me out of here! You don't have any right to be using my body in the first place, so why don't you just get out?"

A dark chuckle filtered through the silence and Ash whirled around, seeing nothing. It was much too dark to see a thing in a place like this.

"I've been thinking about what I should do," the King's voice floated over to him. Ash gritted his teeth as he listened to the King speak. "There are so many possibilities, aren't there? I could go on a killing spree, kill even more innocent people in your body. I could even have killed your friends in cold blood. Now wouldn't that have been delightful? Just imagine, I could simply slip my knife between that girl's ribs, watch the blood drip out of her while she stares at me with those pretty blue eyes filled with pain and fear." He broke off, chuckling again.

"Shut up," Ash whispered in a low voice, his fists clenching tighter. Anger surged through his body at the King's despicable words.

"That tall boy, I would stab him too. Over and over, until he's covered in blood, red all over. I love the colour of blood and how it glistens when wet," the King said reverently. "It's such a pity when it dries, it turns such a nasty brown colour. Ooh, how about your Pikachu? I could hang it upside down, slice it from tail to throat and rip out all its innards. I wonder how far its guts could stretch?"

"Shut UP!" Ash screamed, his face reddening in anger. "How dare you talk about Pikachu like that! You had better not hurt any of my friends, I mean it!"

"Or else what?" the spirit asked him teasingly. Ash growled quietly, knowing that he had no answer. How could he begin to stop something that he couldn't even get to? "It was a very tempting thought indeed, letting you feel the pain of losing all those you love. You have no idea what it's like to lose everyone around you as your city is left in ruins, destroyed by some Pokémon that wouldn't even listen to you. That day, I lost everything. The only thing I have left is my desire to rule the world and it is for that I continue to live."

"How can you call this living?" Ash exclaimed. "You don't even have your own body. Why can't you just move on and accept that you lost?"

"I have not lost!" the King thundered. "As long as my spirit remains, I am still alive and one day I am going to rule the world. Pokélantis will be reborn and the world will fall to its knees. My people may be long gone, but I am still here and I will see to it that you suffer this time around."

"You will never rule the world. Not as long as there are still people around to stop you," Ash responded coldly. "You're just following some foolish dream."

The King fell silent, angered by Ash's words. Eventually he spoke again, his voice quieter. "You don't understand at all. You have no idea what it is like and I am going to show you."

Ash blinked rapidly as a wall shimmered into view before him, with a door that seemed to be inviting him to go in. He cautiously approached it and took hold of the doorknob, twisting and pushing it. The door easily yielded and he looked through the doorway at a narrow alley. Ash stared at the sight in bewilderment, wondering what this was supposed to be and stepped through the doorway, walking on top of the cobblestone paved ground. When he turned around, he saw a blank wall behind himself as if the door had never been there in the first place.

"What is this?" Ash turned around, gazing at the dank and empty alleyway in confusion. It looked out onto a bustling street, people walking right past and not noticing the boy standing in the alley. Ash warily wandered along the alley toward the street, clearly hearing the sound of people talking around him. The cold air on his face felt so real as did the side of the building that he placed a hand against. It certainly didn't seem like an illusion in the least. As he watched the people striding past him, he noticed something odd about them that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Perhaps it was the way they were dressed. The men were all wearing long robes and the women only seemed to be wearing dresses.

Ash shook his head, dispelling the thought. He really didn't need to be thinking about people's fashion sense right now, not when he had more important things to do like figuring out where he was. "Excuse me," he said, approaching a tall woman. "I'm kind of lost, could you..." Ash stopped speaking as the woman walked on, not appearing to have heard him. "Hey, don't ignore me!" he protested in annoyance. "That's not very nice."

The sound of running feet from behind caused him to turn around quickly, seeing a small boy running right toward him. "Hey, look where you're going!" Ash exclaimed, holding out his arms before a collision could occur. However, the boy simply ran through his arms and passed through his body as if he wasn't even there. Ash slowly blinked, wondering what had just happened there. The boy had gone right through him like a ghost, or was Ash the ghost? He bit down on his lower lip, realising that the woman hadn't been ignoring him, she hadn't even seen or heard him.

"Just what is going on here?" Ash wondered out loud, turning around and running through the street. If this was supposed to be some kind of dream or illusion, it sure felt real and was quite imaginative. The buildings and the people looked like they had come out of old paintings and pictures he had seen in history books. Something strange was definitely happening here and he wasn't sure what. Where had that doorway led to?

As he continued to run through the strange city, he heard the sound of chanting voices in the distance. Ash came to a stop and turned toward the sound. He was standing in the middle of a square, near a gushing fountain with a giant stone Magikarp spewing water over itself. People were walking past him in the direction of the raised voices, which seemed to be coming from the largest building in the vicinity. It was definitely the biggest building he had seen so far. Ash walked along with the crowd, looking up in awe at the towering building. It seemed so incredibly grand, like some kind of a palace.

"A palace?" Ash stopped suddenly, wincing as a man walked right through him. He rubbed his arms and shivered, continuing to walk instead so that more people wouldn't go through him. It was just too creepy to stand. He looked up at the building again, his expression now troubled. This place was from another time entirely and if that building was a palace, then who was the ruler of this city? He had a feeling that he knew who it was and exactly where he was.

A large crowd had gathered in front of the palace by now. Ash steeled himself and walked right through the crowd, trying not to think about how he was actually walking through people. He wanted to get a better view rather than hang at the back of the crowd, so that he could get a better idea of what was going on. The people were quiet now, their chanting having stopped before Ash even reached the crowd. He hurried to the front and stopped, looking up a sweeping path of stone steps leading toward the palace's doors. A robed man stood on top of the steps, clutching a gold scepter in his hand and gazing at the crowd with steely eyes.

Ash cried out in shock as he realised that the man looked familiar. His mind flashed back to the time when he was in the ruins of Pokélantis and found the King's chambers where the stone ball containing his spirit was located. It had been sitting on a throne and above that throne was a large statue of a man, the King of Pokélantis himself. The man standing on top of the steps right now was the spitting image of that statue, which meant his suspicions had been confirmed. He was in Pokélantis, a great many years in the past and he was standing right in front of the alive King of Pokélantis. He wanted to go right up and give that King a piece of his mind, but he resisted the urge. What would he even accomplish when nobody could see or hear him in the first place?. Ash folded his arms across his chest and watched the King with a pensive expression, wondering what was going on.

"My people, I thank you for gathering here before me today," the King said in a booming voice, waving an arm grandly. "I have an important message and request for you all. First, let me speak about our city. Pokélantis is a proud, grand city and I am honoured to be ruling over it. However, I do not think that what we have so far is enough. Sure, we are well off and the people are rich. But, don't you want more? I do! It is not enough to just have the city to ourselves. No, we should take over the world. I dream to one day be in control of the entire world! What do you think of it, my people?"

"Ugh." Ash gritted his teeth in disgust and anger as the people around him stamped their feet and cheered, evidently agreeing with the King's views. "You are insane!" he yelled, even though he knew that the King couldn't hear him. How could these people think that the King of Pokélantis ruling the world was a good thing? They seemed to be so loyal to him that they were blind as a result and didn't see the truth, that their monarch was really an evil and twisted person. They couldn't possibly all be evil as well. The King had obviously misled his own people into believing that his ideals were the right ones.

As the crowd died down, the King cleared his throat then continued speaking. "I have a plan and I want your help. We must go to Ho-Oh and convince it to let me use his power to take over the world. Will you people come with me and speak to it? I want the people of Pokélantis to be at my side, to convince it that I am worthy of having the position as the world's ruler. After all, who better than my own people for the job?"

The crowd raised their voices again, shouting in agreement and raising their fists high above their heads. They would go with the King to Ho-Oh and ask it to give its power to the King, so that he could have the entire world within his grasp.

"Thank you, citizens of Pokélantis!" The King raised his sceptre up high, looking gleeful. "Now I will go to Ho-Oh's lair and speak to it. Follow me, people! Pokélantis will rise to power and our presence will spread to the entire world." His chest shook with laughter before he marched down the steps, the crowd parting before him and allowing him to walk through.

Ash froze to the spot as the King walked right past him, staring up at the man who towered over him. He shuddered as he looked into the King's dark, glittering eyes and saw the insane grin upon his face. How could the people of Pokélantis be following someone like him? He was completely crazy and evil, hardly the ideal person to be ruling a city. Ash turned to see the crowd following after the King and he decided to follow as well. There didn't seem to be much else to do here, especially when he didn't seem to be existing in the first place and he figured he was supposed to follow along with what was happening.

The King and his people marched on through the city until they had exited the boundaries and continued walking along a wide path. The crowd steadily marched along the path for about a mile until they arrived at their destination. The King approached a large stone basin sitting upon a pedestal. Tall torches surrounded the pedestal, stretching so far that their flames could have been seen from inside the basin itself.

"Ho-Oh, are you there?" the King asked, approaching the pedestal and falling to his knees. "Appear before me, Ho-Oh, I beseech you."

Ash gasped in amazement as Ho-Oh appeared, flapping its wide wings as it elevated itself above the basin. He stared at the rainbow coloured bird with a rapturous look, forgetting for a moment where he was as excitement stirred in his gut. How lucky was he to get yet another chance to see Ho-Oh? Then he remembered he was a thousand years in the past and this was someone else's memory. It probably wasn't even the same Ho-Oh unless they could live for a thousand years. Still, seeing it was just as incredible as the past few times.

"I am here, King of Pokélantis," Ho-Oh spoke. "For what reason have you come to speak to me?"

"We have worshipped you for as long as we have existed, bringing you gifts and praying to you for good fortune." The King stood, gazing up at Ho-Oh. "Pokélantis is well off and we believe you are to thank for our luck. Thank you for everything you have done for us, great Ho-Oh, but it is not enough."

"It is not enough?" There was an unmistakeable hint of irritation in Ho-Oh's voice. "I have blessed you with good fortune, you are the ruler of a grand city, your people are loyal to you, you are very rich and yet you claim that it is not enough? What more would you ask of me?"

"Like I said, I am grateful to you, but I desire more!" The King clenched a fist. "A city is not enough for me. I wish to have control of the entire world and for that, I need your power. Join me, Ho-Oh, and help me to take over the world." He turned to look at the large crowd behind him. "Speak for me, people. Am I, the King of Pokélantis, worthy enough to rule the world?"

Ho-Oh was silent as it listened to the voices of the crowd which showered the King with praise and told it there was no person more worthy of taking over the world. A deep silence soon fell over them as they watched it expectantly. "So, the people of Pokélantis have become greedy, selfish and evil. I cannot allow such evil to continue to thrive in this world." It flapped its wings and moved higher into the sky, letting off a burst of fire. "I thought you people were good, that you deserved what you got, but now I can see that I was wrong. I will purge all evil from this place."

"What? You are refusing to help me?" The King growled, raising his fist. "After all we have done for you, Ho-Oh, how dare you turn your back on us like this!"

Ho-Oh did not say anything. Instead, it started blasting at the crowd with large jets of flame. The people screamed as they were engulfed in the fire, devoured by the raging flames. Nobody saw the King quietly slipping away before he could get caught in Ho-Oh's attacks.

Ash watched on in shock, stunned by what was happening before him. He'd known that Ho-Oh wiped out Pokélantis after the King tried to use its power to rule the world, but to actually see Ho-Oh attacking the people was terrifying. Ho-Oh was actually killing these humans, something he couldn't believe. They couldn't all be evil enough to deserve death, could they? They had only been following the lead of their King whom they were loyal to. The Pokémon seemed to have gone crazy, mindlessly blasting at everything that moved. It would then go to the city and destroy that as well. Ash didn't want to watch the destruction anymore, so he did the only thing he could think of. He turned and ran back along the path, the screams of the dying fading in the distance.

There had to be a way to get out of this nightmare that he no longer wanted to be within. Perhaps if he returned to Pokélantis, he could find it. Ash had barely reached the entrance to the city when he saw Ho-Oh in the sky above him. The legendary Pokémon had now come to destroy the city itself. Ash hurried into the city, watching Ho-Oh with a dismayed expression as it blasted at a building with fire. There were children in this city, and there had to be innocent people who hadn't been swayed by the King into thinking ruling the world was a good idea. How could Ho-Oh think that destroying the entire city and killing everyone who lived there was a good idea?

"Ho-Oh, stop it!" Ash cried, forgetting that he couldn't be heard. He wasn't even really there in the first place. The Pokémon trainer was so caught up in his distress and panic, that all he could think about was trying to stop the crazed Pokémon from killing everyone in its path. Ash ran toward Ho-Oh, gasping he saw Ho-Oh send a powerful jet of a fire toward a mother and her child. His eyes widened in horror and he stopped, wondering just how Ho-Oh could think destroying an entire city was okay. It wasn't fair at all. The King had survived the destruction and lived on inside the stone ball, while his people had perished. All they had done wrong was follow him and believe that he was right.

"Why?" Ash whispered, tears streaming down his face. "Why would you destroy an entire city?" At the time he was listening to Brandon's tale, he hadn't really been thinking about the moral issues beneath. Now that he had seen it, he realised that innocent people were getting killed just because their King was a crazed lunatic. "Ho-Oh, why would you kill all these people? It's just too cruel." Tears rained down his cheeks as he looked at the flames that hungrily devoured the city. People were running and screaming as Ho-Oh came after them.

That Ho-Oh, the one destroying the city and killing innocent people, it couldn't be the same one. Ash clenched his fists, watching the crazed fire-type blasting everything in its path. The one he'd seen before, it had to be a different one. He didn't want to believe otherwise. The thought that it could have easily been inside that stone ball instead of the King's spirit chilled him. Ash had been calling it out, only to get possessed by the King's spirit. Watching Ho-Oh's destruction right now, he wasn't sure which one would have been worse.

Ash heard the angry cry of Ho-Oh from close by. He turned to see Ho-Oh tearing up the street, rushing straight toward him. Of course, it wasn't actually seeing him, but mindlessly destroying everything in its path as it continued its revenge against Pokélantis. Ash screamed as it came right at him, feeling the ground explode beneath his feet. "Ho-Oh! Stop!" he screamed in a fit of sheer panic. His feet slipped from beneath him as the ground suddenly gave way. Ash was then falling into the dark abyss beneath, screaming in terror as he did so.

The landing wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. He didn't even feel any pain as he hit the unseen surface below, still within the darkness. Ash quickly got up and looked around, seeing nothing but pitch black all around him. Even looking up, he couldn't see the sky above despite having fallen through a gaping hole in the ground. There wasn't any wind either and it was deathly quiet. Apparently, he was back in that dark and quiet place where he had been trapped before.

"The day that my proud city was destroyed," the King said in a quiet voice, with just a hint of remorse. "My people were slaughtered by that blasted Ho-Oh and what do I have now? Nothing! My city has been in ruins for a very long time and I failed to seal away Ho-Oh. I was so desperate to get my revenge, I even sealed my own soul away inside that stone ball. It worked pretty well, you know."

"You..." Ash clenched a fist furiously. "You led your own people to their destruction! You blinded them to the truth about yourself, that you were really just an evil nutcase. Did you actually care about the people who looked up to you? Did you even remember the people Ho-Oh killed in the rampage or were you only thinking about your quest to take over the world?"

"I lost everything," the King said faintly. "Now I want you to lose everything, brat, then you can feel my pain too."

Ash swallowed a lump that formed in his throat and shivered, not liking the sound of that. "What are you planning?" he whispered nervously. The King did not answer him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ancient Enemy**

* * *

"Hello, Brock." Professor Oak gazed at the video screen with a perplexed expression. "It's normally Ash who would be calling me. Is everything alright?" Judging by the expression on Brock's face, he had the feeling that things weren't going so well.

"Not really, no." Brock exhaled heavily, shaking his head. "I am at the Pokémon Center in Pastoria City and there's a lot of stuff going on right now. It's not good. Did Ash ever tell you about the time that he got possessed by an evil spirit?"

Professor Oak slowly blinked, his mouth dropping open slightly. "No, he didn't," he said finally, raising an eyebrow. Never before had he heard of anyone getting possessed by an evil spirit. It seemed like everything happened to Ash though, so he couldn't really say that he was surprised. "Are you saying that Ash is being possessed by one right now? What is going on?"

"It's a pretty long story, Professor, and I'm afraid I don't have the time to tell you all the details right now," Brock responded. "The situation is pretty serious and we don't even have any idea where Ash is right now, but we're going to find him and sort it out. In the meantime, we need to contact Pyramid King Brandon and find out what's going on here. If it's not too much trouble, could you try and contact Scott and see if he can get through to Brandon? I would like to hear from him."

"I see." Professor Oak inclined his head in a nod. "I hope nothing too bad has happened yet."

"Oh, it has," Brock said in a terse voice. "We have one person dead, though it wasn't anybody we knew but he was just an innocent man and he didn't deserve to die. Then Team Rocket made the mistake of tangling with a possessed Ash and Meowth ended up in the emergency room. They were lucky that they didn't get killed as well."

Professor Oak was noticeably paler at the news and his eyes were wide with shock. "Hurry and find Ash as soon as you can," he said in a faint voice. "He's obviously dealing with something very dangerous here. You should all be careful as well. I'll contact Scott as soon as possible and you may be hearing from Brandon soon, I hope."

"Don't worry, we'll be very careful," Brock said. "It's not the first time we've had to deal with this evil spirit, though he didn't kill anyone that time. Goodbye." He placed the receiver back onto the handset, cutting off the call and let out a long sigh. "What a mess this is," he muttered.

"Should we tell Officer Jenny about the King of Pokélantis?" Dawn asked as she came over. "She's really desperate to find the killer who took that man's life."

"The killer we're talking about is an evil spirit inside Ash's body," Brock responded. "I think we could focus on catching him first and driving that evil spirit out of his body, then sealing it back somehow and then we should tell the police what happened."

"I suppose so." Dawn folded her arms and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "We should try to come up with a good plan. Will having Pikachu shock him really be enough?"

"The King might be prepared for that," Brock said. "It was how we drove him out last time after all. We'll try everything we've got to get Ash free and the King out of there. With Team Rocket helping us, there's more of us against the evil spirit." They turned to look at Jessie and James, who were sitting hunched over on the floor by the emergency room door.

"Team Rocket are looking pretty miserable," Dawn commented, feeling a faint twinge of sympathy. They rarely saw Team Rocket like that, in such depressed moods.

"It must have been a really shocking experience. I imagine getting threatened by a psycho with a knife and seeing Meowth having the stuffing beaten out of him can't have been too entertaining for them," Brock said grimly. "That King is a cruel and evil psychopath, and he certainly isn't afraid to show it."

The light on the sign above the door went out and the door slid open to reveal Nurse Joy. Jessie and James got to their feet, giving her questioning looks. "Meowth will be fine," she told them. "However, he is going to need a lot of rest. It would be better if he stayed here for a bit to recover. You can go and see him now."

The two Rockets hurried into the room to see Meowth lying on the bed, awake and swathed in bandages. He saw them and weakly raised an arm, giving them a grin. "Hey. I see you cared enough to go to all this trouble to get me patched up."

"Well, of course we care!" James exclaimed as they rushed over to throw their arms around him. "You were in really bad shape, worst then we've ever been after all those blasting offs, I think."

"That psychotic twerp sure did a number on you," Jessie commented. "We had no choice but to take you here to the Pokémon Center."

"Hey, not so hard!" Meowth protested, though he seemed happy. "What was the deal with dat scary twerp anyway? I never seen him act like dat before."

"He's possessed by an evil spirit," Jessie replied, while she and James released him and stood. "We're working with the other twerps to make that evil spirit pay for what he did."

"Sorry, Meowth, but you'll have to stay here for a bit and get better," James told the feline. "Team Rocket can't function without you and we need you to be on the mend soon enough."

Meowth didn't seem too delighted at the idea of being stuck in bed, but he knew that there was very little he could do about it. "Well, you guys hurry back as soon as you can and be careful out there. I wouldn't want that psycho twerp hurting you like he did to me."

"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine." James shoved his thumb upward, smiling.

"At the very worst. we'll probably just end up blasting off again," Jessie added. "We'll be back for you before you even know it. So just get better soon, Meowth."

Jessie and James then left the room, rejoining Brock and Dawn in the lobby, ready and eager to leave with them and deal with Ash. They weren't happy about what that evil spirit had put Meowth through and were willing to help the others in any way they could, even if they were the twerps. After a quick exchange of words, the group of four left the Pokémon Center and took to the road leading out of Pastoria City, hurrying toward the place where Ash had last been sighted.

* * *

Ash was starting to feel intensely bored, trapped inside the darkness with no way out. He couldn't see a thing and there was just nothing to do when stuck in his own mind. It was simply maddening wondering what was going on in the outside world, especially when he couldn't even see it, and he hated not knowing what the King of Pokélantis might be up to. What if he was killing more innocent people? Ash couldn't bear the idea of people getting hurt and being unable to do anything about it. The young Pokémon trainer was furious at the King for doing all this and wanted nothing more than to break free of his prison and teach the King a lesson.

Where could his friends be? It was possible that they hadn't even found him yet and maybe the King was already far away where they could never even find him. It was a disheartening thought indeed and he didn't want to dwell on that. He couldn't start losing hope now. There had to be some way out of this, something that he hadn't thought of yet, but he really didn't know what. Ash sat on the floor and pulled his legs to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. He placed his chin on his knees and let out a long sigh.

This was just ridiculous. He should have been having his gym battle with Crasher Wake and getting that fourth badge, but instead he was trapped in here while an evil King was parading around in his own body and doing whatever he liked. An innocent man was even dead all because of that King's scheming and he prayed that the King wouldn't be killing any more. Hadn't enough people died all because of his greed? The scene he had been forced to witness in ancient Pokélantis was still bothering him. Seeing all those people running and screaming while Ho-Oh destroyed each and every one of them along with their city had left a deep bitterness within him.

It had happened a very long time ago, but it still affected him. Ash couldn't understand how a Pokémon like Ho-Oh could have mercilessly slaughtered all those people inside the city when destroying it. Why hadn't it gone after the true villain, the King himself? It didn't seem fair at all how the King had managed to escape while his people had perished, when it was his own fault for angering Ho-Oh in the first place.

"We've got a job to do, brat," spoke the King out of nowhere, startling Ash out of his wits. It was unnerving to hear the King's deep voice suddenly speak after languishing in silence. Footsteps followed, walking toward Ash and their surroundings were illuminated by a pale light.

Ash got to his feet and turned to look at the King with a narrowed stare. "What do you mean we?"

"You really do not know what I'm capable of. It's time to give you a little taster." The King suddenly reached out and gripped Ash's forehead, the dark aura around him pulsing as his power flowed into Ash's body. Ash went rigid, letting out an agonised scream. He couldn't move for all the pain his body was in and the King's grip on his head was too strong to even break out of. As the power continued to go into him, he started to feel weak and dizzy until darkness took over. However, he was still awake on his feet, gazing blankly at the King with dark eyes devoid of colour.

"Now let's go and deal with some trash." A smile spread across the King's face, his eyes glittering with malevolence.

* * *

Brock, Dawn, Jessie and James had been running on the road away from Pastoria City for the past five minutes in search of Ash when they caught sight of the young boy walking toward them.

"Ash!" Dawn was about to run straight to him, smiling joyfully, but Brock quickly caught her arm and pulled her back before she could do so.

"Dawn, remember he's being possessed," Brock warned, watching Ash suspiciously. "It's not safe to just go up to him."

"Oh, yeah." Dawn frowned anxiously while Ash came to a stop a few feet away from them. She had been so happy to see Ash again that she had almost forgotten the reason why they were looking for him in the first place.

"You've got a lot of nerve, scaring us out of our wits and hurting Meowth back there!" Jessie vented her anger. "Well, there's more of us now and we're certainly not afraid of you. The twerp was annoying enough by himself, but you're even worse."

"What are you talking about?" Ash blinked, giving them a blank stare. "Are you saying that I hurt Meowth? I wouldn't do such a thing." He lowered his head and bit his lower lip, a tremor running through his body. "The King of Pokélantis did that, didn't he?"

"Huh? Now he's the twerp again?" James frowned. "This is so confusing."

"Pikapi?" Pikachu hopped off of Brock's shoulder and approached his trainer, giving him a curious look and tilting his head.

"Hey, buddy. I was wondering where you had got to." Ash smiled and held out his arms toward Pikachu. "Come here."

"Pikapi!" the yellow mouse Pokémon cried out joyfully, springing off the ground and flying into his trainer's arms. He smiled happily as Ash's arms wrapped around him and held him close, nuzzling his chest. Pikachu had been so worried about his absent trainer and was glad to see him again.

"Something's not right," Brock muttered. It almost seemed too good to be true that Ash was back and his normal self again. The King's spirit had to be still there somewhere inside of Ash's body and they couldn't let their guard down. Even if the boy standing before them looked and sounded like Ash, how did they know that he really was Ash? "What's happened to the King of Pokélantis then?"

Pikachu let out a faint, startled squeak as he felt some strange energy flowing into him. He weakly raised his head to look up into Ash's ebony eyes, realising too late that something just wasn't right here. His mind became fuzzy and he was only aware of one thing. He had to do whatever his master ordered him to do and that was all. Ash placed Pikachu on the ground and the mouse Pokémon turned around, looking toward the group with a blank stare.

"The King of Pokélantis isn't here right now, but I'll be dealing with you." Ash's mouth twitched in a smirk and he raised his arm, pointing a finger toward the four people standing before him. "Okay, Pikachu, use Thunder on them."

"Huh?" Brock, Dawn, Jessie and James all cried out in unison, their mouths hanging open. Brock and Dawn knew there was no way that Ash would ever order his Pokémon to attack his own friends. Even Jessie and James knew that something was up. None of them expected Pikachu to follow the order however, thinking that he knew well enough his trainer was possessed and wouldn't actually go so far as to use an attack against Ash's travelling companions, who were just as much Pikachu's friends as they were Ash's.

A fierce expression appeared on Pikachu's face and he leaped up into the air, his entire body crackling with electricity which shot out in a massive blast and soared toward the quartet, striking them dead on. They all flew back, screaming in pain as the electricity coursed through them and hit the ground with heavy thuds. Pikachu dropped back to the ground, not looking in the least remorseful for having attacked Brock and Dawn.

"Now that's more like the twerp," James groaned, getting up and rubbing his hip where he had struck the ground. "Some things just don't change."

"Except as far as I know, the twerp's never actually attacked his own friends before." Jessie glanced at Brock and Dawn, who were shaken but otherwise fine.

"What was that he was saying? Didn't he say the King of Pokélantis wasn't there?" Dawn got to her feet, looking confused as she stared at Ash. She couldn't believe that Pikachu had actually attacked her. "Pikachu! Why did you shock us like that?"

"Pi! Pikachu!" Pikachu clenched his teeth.

"Piplup?" Piplup frowned. "Pip, piplup!" it spoke frantically, waving its arms up at Dawn with a worried expression.

"Something's wrong with Pikachu?" Dawn looked at Pikachu's face, seeing the almost angry expression, and she knew that something wasn't right. "But Pikachu was its normal self a moment ago. I just don't understand."

"I think he did something to Pikachu while he was holding him," Brock guessed. It was the only thing that made any sense to him. "Ash, don't you remember who we are? Dawn and I are your friends. The King of Pokélantis is just using you against us, but you've got to fight it!"

"The only ones I'm fighting are you. Pikachu, give them a taste of your Thunderbolt!" Ash ordered.

"Pikachuuuuu!" Pikachu screamed, letting off a powerful Thunderbolt. This time, the targets managed to narrowly dodge the attack before it could hit them. "Chu!" Pikachu exclaimed in dissatisfaction, looking frustrated at its failure to hit them.

"So that twerp wants a fight, does he?" Jessie held up a Poké Ball, looking annoyed. "In that case, we'll give him one! Go, Yanmega!"

"Come out, Carnivine!" James threw the Poké Ball in the air and the flytrap Pokémon came out in a flash of red light. He let out a startled exclamation as it came toward him and quickly reached out to grab it with his hands before its teeth could clamp down on his head. "Carnivine, this is serious. Now get out there and fight!" The exasperated Rocket threw Carnivine forward and it took its place next to Yanmega, ready for battle.

"What losers. Pikachu, come back," Ash spoke. He plucked a Poké Ball from his waist and hurled it into the air. "Chimchar, I choose you!" The small fire monkey appeared before him, taking on a battle stance as it faced Team Rocket's Pokémon.

"Ash, please stop this!" Tears formed in Dawn's eyes as she watched the scene unfolding before her. "Why are you doing this?"

"Carnivine, Bullet Seed!" James ordered.

"Yanmega, SonicBoom!" Jessie chimed in.

Carnivine opened up its mouth, releasing a hail of seed bullets that fired toward Chimchar. At the same time, Yanmega floated upward, its wings glowing white and it flapped them hard, sending out a shockwave rippling through the air to its target.

"Chimchar, dodge the attacks!" Ash shouted. The fire Pokémon quickly jumped into the air, narrowly avoiding the attacks as they crashed into the ground below it, causing a small explosion. "Now use Flame Wheel on that Carnivine!"

Still in mid-air, Chimchar curled up and its body was surrounded with flames. It started rolling toward Carnivine at a massive speed, plowing full force into the flytrap Pokémon and sending it crashing into the ground. The effectiveness of the fire attack was too much for the grass type and it passed out upon hitting the surface.

"Now use your Flamethrower on Yanmega," Ash ordered, his eyes narrowing.

Chimchar turned around and opened its mouth, letting forth a powerful stream of flames that engulfed Yanmega. A few seconds later, the charred insect fell out of the air, knocked unconscious.

"Ah! Return, Carnivine!" James hurriedly recalled his Pokémon, gritting his teeth in frustration. "Great, all I have left is Mime Jr." He wasn't too keen on the idea of sending the baby Pokémon out into battle, especially against Ash's powerful Pokémon.

"Yanmega, return!" Jessie recalled Yanmega, and then hurled another Poké Ball. It opened up, releasing the snake Pokémon. "Seviper, Poison Tail!"

"Chimchar, return!" Ash held out Chimchar's Poké Ball and the monkey returned to it in a flash of red light. Seviper's glowing purple tail hit the ground and it looked perplexed at seeing its target disappear so quickly before it even had a chance to do anything. "Go, Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Before Jessie could even tell Seviper to get out of the way, the yellow arc of lightning struck it dead on and the snake Pokémon crashed into the ground, knocked out.

"Well, one thing's for sure, the twerp's still annoying." Jessie recalled Seviper, looking irritated.

"I'm tired of dealing with these losers. Pikachu, thunderbolt them now!" Ash pointed toward Team Rocket.

Jessie and James screamed in agony as Pikachu's electricity hit them and sent them flying through the air, hitting the ground a few feet behind Brock and Dawn. They moaned in pain, both looking quite disgruntled after having been hit by another surprise attack.

"Now, who's next?" Ash smiled coldly as he looked toward Brock and Dawn.


	6. Chapter 6

**Ancient Enemy**

* * *

"I don't want to fight you, Ash." Brock stepped forward, his face grim as he looked at his younger friend. "But if you're not going to come back to your senses, then I guess there's no choice. I just hope you'll remember who we are before it's too late."

"I'm not interested in talking!" Ash snapped, looking annoyed. "Just send out your Pokémon already."

"Ash, please." Dawn whimpered, biting her bottom lip. This couldn't be happening. How could they be fighting Ash himself? No, it wasn't Ash, not entirely. "You've got to remember. That evil King is just using you for his gains!"

"Let's get this fight started then." Brock was not going to hold back in this fight. He wasn't too happy about fighting Ash but there was no choice and he was going to do his best to take down his Pokémon if he had to. The Pokémon breeder reached into his pocket, retrieving a Poké Ball and threw it. "Come out, Sudowoodo!" The brown tree shaped Pokémon came out in a flash of white light.

"Sudowoodo, huh? In that case then, I choose you, Buizel!" Ash threw Buizel's Poké Ball. A second later, the orange weasel Pokémon was standing before him with a fierce gaze. "Now, Buizel, use your Aqua Jet attack."

"Sudowoodo, use Headbutt quickly," Brock ordered. This was going to be difficult, as Buizel had the type advantage over Sudowoodo and he knew that was why Ash had chosen to use Buizel.

Buizel leaped into the air, water rippling around its body as it began speeding toward Sudowoodo. At the same time, the brown Pokémon charged at its opponent, slamming into it from the side and catching it off guard.

"Buizel, Water Gun!" Ash shouted.

Due to its close proximity, Sudowoodo was unable to get away in time and Buizel spewed a powerful jet of water straight into its face. Sudowoodo was sent flying and hit the ground hard.

"Sudowoodo, are you okay?" Brock called out anxiously. He smiled as he saw the Pokémon weakly struggle to its feet. "That's right, we won't give up so easily. Now use Double Edge!"

Sudowoodo glowed with a yellow light as it came running at Buizel again. Ash calmly watched on as it came even closer to its opponent, not seeming bothered in the least by the oncoming dangerous attack.

With just seconds to spare, Ash suddenly spoke. "Water Pulse, now."

Buizel held out its paws, a large sphere of water forming in its paws. Sudowoodo was even closer now, mere inches away from hitting it, and then it did, plowing into Buizel who barely managed to hold the Water Pulse.

"Let go of the Water Pulse now!" Ash ordered, sweeping his arm through the air. The Water Pulse blasted straight into Sudowoodo and it went flying through the air, striking the ground hard and causing dust to rise up around its body. Its eyes formed the shape of swirls.

Brock clenched his teeth, looking frustrated. Clearly, Ash was still thinking like himself, just slightly more confident than usual. He hadn't been afraid to let Buizel take such a powerful blow and had even taken advantage of it, enabling Buizel to deal a powerful blow that was too much for his Pokémon to take. Buizel seemed a little hurt by the attack, but otherwise it still appeared to be in good shape.

This wasn't right, Brock thought, trying to take down innocent Pokémon who were only following their master's orders. They needed to get through to Ash, but that was proving to be rather difficult at the moment. "Good job, Sudowoodo," he said, holding out its Poké Ball and recalling it. He replaced it in his pocket and extracted another Poké Ball, throwing it. "Go, Croagunk!"

"Buizel, take a rest now." Ash recalled his Pokémon. "I choose you, Staravia!" He threw another Poké Ball, which opened up this time to let out the black bird Pokémon. It hovered in the air, looking toward Croagunk.

Brock wasn't surprised to see the switch happen. Right now, it seemed that Ash was fond of type advantages and Staravia, as a flying type, could do pretty well against Croagunk, who was partly a fighting type. However, he wasn't worried, as he knew perfectly well that type disadvantages could still be overcome in battle. The main worry was Staravia being up in the air and he was going to have to really think on his feet.

"Staravia, use Wing Attack." Ash crossed his arms and watched on calmly, not seeming at all fazed. He was feeling quite confident that he could win this battle easily and there was nothing to worry about. Staravia swooped down toward Croagunk, one wing glowing white.

Brock tensed, wondering why Ash would start off with such a simple attack. Could it be that he was merely trying to test the opponent? "Croagunk, use Poison Sting now!" he exclaimed, pointing toward Staravia.

Croagunk opened its mouth, spitting forth a hail of purple poison barbs. Staravia cried out as the attack blasted it, the glow around its wing fading.

"Don't take that nonsense from it, Staravia!" Ash snapped, his eyes narrowing. "Aerial Ace, now!"

Staravia flapped up into the air and then dived down toward Croagunk again, its body surrounded by white streaks of light. Brock could only watch on as Staravia rapidly crashed into Croagunk, knocking it to the ground. However, the blue frog Pokémon was not yet down and staggered to its feet.

"Use Brick Break quickly!" Brock exclaimed. "Don't let it get away!"

Croagunk's hand glowed a bright white and it leaped up into the air, slamming its hand directly into Staravia's chest. The bird Pokémon let out a squawk of pain and hurriedly flapped its wings, putting distance between itself and its opponent.

"It's time to finish this. Now use Brave Bird!" Ash shouted.

A cloak of flames engulfed Staravia and it swooped toward Croagunk at a startling speed, so quickly that Brock barely saw it moving through the air. At the last second, it swooped away from Croagunk and a shining blue replica of Staravia plummeted on top of its opponent, slamming it into the ground. Clouds of dust rose up around Croagunk, clearing away to reveal it lying on its back with its eyes swirling.

"Croagunk!" Brock exclaimed in horror. His Pokémon had been unable to withstand such a powerful blow at such close range. "You did a good job." He recalled it and sighed heavily. "I don't think there's any point in using Happiny."

"I'm next." Dawn stepped forward with a determined expression. She clenched her fists and raised them. "I don't want to fight Ash either, but I know I've got to do this. Go, Pachirisu!" she cried out, throwing the Poké Ball. As the white and blue squirrel Pokémon appeared, looking cheerful, she called out again. "Pachirisu, use Discharge!"

"Chipa chi!" Pachirisu tensed, its entire body glowing with blue electricity and then released it. The electricity struck Staravia head on and it cried out in pain, weakly dropping toward the ground and finding it even harder to stay up in the air.

"Staravia, return." Ash recalled his Pokémon, and then took another Poké Ball from his waist, hurling it forward. "Turtwig, I choose you!"

"He's chosen Turtwig because as a grass type, it's resistant to electricity," Brock cautioned. "Pachirisu's electric attacks aren't going to have much effect on Turtwig."

"Got it." Dawn nodded. "In that case, Pachirisu, use your Sweet Kiss attack!" At her command, pink hearts flowed from Pachirisu's body and struck Turtwig, who started to sway back and forth, blinking and looking dazed.

Ash gritted his teeth in frustration and quickly recalled Turtwig. "I'll deal with that pesky squirrel. Chimchar, I choose you!"

"He switched again!" Dawn exclaimed, exhaling heavily. This battle was getting to be quite frustrating. "Well, Chimchar's not resistant to electricity at any rate. Pachirisu, use Discharge again!"

"Chimchar, use Dig!" Ash shouted quickly. Chimchar hurriedly dug its way into the ground, the electricity striking the edge of the hole uselessly and getting nowhere near its target.

"Pachirisu, be careful." Dawn clenched her fists tightly, a tense expression showing on her face. "Chimchar could be anywhere now, so keep a look out for it." She looked around cautiously, wondering where Chimchar might come up.

A smile appeared on Ash's face. This was indeed a piece of cake. "Chimchar, use Dig attack on Pachirisu!" he shouted.

Dawn cried out as the ground exploded beneath Pachirisu and Chimchar came out, right beneath it in a powerful tackle. The squirrel squeaked in pain. "Pachirisu!"

"Now use Scratch on it." Ash crossed his arms again, looking perfectly relaxed.

Pachirisu was unable to get away in mid-air and Chimchar easily swiped at it with its claws. The two crashed into the ground, Pachirisu looking stunned while Chimchar stood before it.

"Finish it off with Flamethrower." Ash's smile widened.

"No, Pachirisu!" Dawn cried out in horror, her eyes widening as Chimchar spewed forth flames that washed over Pachirisu's body. When the flames faded away, she saw that the squirrel Pokémon was unconscious and slightly charred from the attack. "Good job. Take a rest now." She held out the Poké Ball, Pachirisu returning to it in a flash of red light.

"The way this battle is going, things aren't good." Brock gritted his teeth. "Ash is constantly switching his Pokémon and having them attack repeatedly at a very fast rate. He isn't even giving his opponent any time to think, he just keeps going, and he likes using type advantages. I think he's trying to hit us as hard as possible and it's certainly working."

"Well, it's not going to work anymore!" Dawn growled, reaching for another Poké Ball. "Go, Ambipom!" she yelled, throwing the Poké Ball.

"Chimchar, return." Ash recalled Chimchar into its Poké Ball. He took another Poké Ball and flung it. "Buizel, you're up again!"

The weasel Pokémon and the two tailed monkey Pokémon faced off against each other, looking equally determined as they prepared to battle.

"Buizel, Aqua Jet!"

"Ambipom, Swift!"

Jessie and James had been watching on the whole time, sitting on the ground and curiously observing the battle as it went on.

"It looks like the twerp himself is winning this battle," James commented. "I can't really say that I'm surprised."

"What's going to happen if he wins?" Jessie frowned. "I'm not even sure if that's actually the twerp or not. It's all so confusing."

"No kidding. I'm glad we didn't run into him the first time around." James shook his head. "When possessed by that King guy, that is. He's pretty scary."

"This version of the twerp seems scary too. Look at how he's not even breaking a sweat and he's taking out one Pokémon after another," Jessie observed. "At this rate, I suppose he will win. I think that might be a bad thing."

After a constant flurry of powerful attacks and repeatedly dodging for the next few minutes, Ambipom and Buizel crashed to the ground, both of them severely fatigued after the tiring battle that they had just endured. Their trainers quickly recalled them into their Poké Balls, preparing for the next part of the battle.

"Go, Buneary!" Dawn threw Buneary's Poké Ball. The brown rabbit Pokémon appeared before her, bouncing on the ground enthusiastically, ready and raring for a battle.

"This should be a piece of cake too. Pikachu, I choose you!" Ash looked at Pikachu, grinning. Pikachu nodded and ran forwards to face Buneary.

"Oh no!" Dawn exclaimed, her mouth dropping open in shock. She knew that Buneary had feelings for Pikachu well enough and wondered if Ash was aware of that despite being under a strange spell. Could that be the reason why he had chosen Pikachu to battle her?

"Pikachu and Buneary, huh?" Brock looked troubled. "Dawn, maybe you should..." He broke off, looking at Piplup. "Never mind." With Pachirisu and Ambipom defeated, Buneary and Piplup were all Dawn had and Piplup was an even worse choice to use against Pikachu than Buneary was.

"Yeah, I can't use Piplup. Buneary, you have to do this." Dawn tensed. "Now use Ice Beam!"

"Pikachu, use Volt Tackle!" Ash called out.

Buneary looked at Pikachu in confusion, wondering how her trainer could even think to use her against Pikachu. She had no desire to fight against the Pokémon she was attracted to and surely Pikachu wouldn't want to hurt her either? However, Pikachu came running at her, surrounded by a yellowish aura, and she could only stand and stare in shock, wondering why Pikachu was attacking her. Then Pikachu struck her with full force and Buneary went flying through the air, hitting the ground with a dull thud.

"Buneary!" Dawn exclaimed in horror while the bunny weakly got to her feet. "You've got to fight Pikachu. I know it's hard, but you just have to!"

"Bun..." Buneary shook her head, looking sorrowfully at Pikachu.

"Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Ash smirked. This was even easier than he had thought it would be. How pathetic was that?

Pikachu leaped forward, slamming its glowing white tail into Buneary's face. Buneary fell limply to the ground, watching Pikachu with sad eyes.

"Buneary..." Dawn's eyes watered. "Please... please fight back."

"What is going on?" Jessie wondered, looking perplexed. "Why won't Buneary fight Pikachu?"

"It's because Buneary is in love with Pikachu, right?" James guessed. "It doesn't want to hurt the one it loves."

"So it would rather get the stuffing beaten out of it than fight?" Jessie appeared disgruntled. "What kind of an attitude is that?"

"I dunno. It kind of makes sense to me," James mused thoughtfully.

"Buneary..." Buneary whimpered, getting back to its feet and staggering toward Pikachu, looking at him pleadingly. She desperately wanted him to be back to normal and to stop hurting her in this way, but she couldn't bring herself to fight him. The rabbit Pokémon knew something wasn't right about Pikachu at the moment and fighting him couldn't be the answer.

"What is up with that stupid thing?" Ash snapped. "Use Thunderbolt!"

Buneary screamed in pain as several thousand volts of electricity coursed through her body. Yet, after the attack was over, she simply continued to stagger toward Pikachu, mustering all the strength she had left just to be able to reach him.

"Buneary!" Dawn cried out, tears streaming down her face. Why couldn't her Buneary just fight back?

"Bun..." Buneary moaned, falling into Pikachu's arms. All her strength was gone now and she could barely even move. "Buneary, bun." She felt Pikachu's arms supporting her and smiled.

Pikachu stared at Buneary with a confused expression, rapidly blinking. Something strange was going on here. One moment he had been in the arms of his trainer and then he was standing here, holding onto an almost fainted Buneary. He had the horrible suspicion that a lot more had happened than he actually remembered.

"Isn't it down yet?" Ash asked in a disgusted voice. "Pikachu, hit it with Thunderbolt one more time!"

Pikachu knew it then. Pikapi was definitely not Pikapi, even though he sounded just like him. Maybe that creepy and evil King's spirit was still doing something strange to him that made him not act like himself. Pikachu gently set Buneary down on the ground and backed away, sparks flying from his cheeks.

Brock and Dawn watched on in horror, believing that Pikachu was about to follow his master's orders.

Then Pikachu turned around, flinging a full blast of electricity straight at his trainer. He wanted to help him, not to hurt others, and he was sure that it would work again. It had worked last time, so why not now?

Ash screamed as the electricity hit him straight on and hit the ground, rolling over once. He let out a quiet moan as he lay still, recovering from the sudden blast.

"Did it work?" Brock frowned. He hadn't seen anything come out of Ash and wasn't quite sure that everything was fine.

"Ash, are you okay?" Dawn called out, her eyes wide.

"Pikapi?" Pikachu nervously approached Ash, hoping that his trainer was now back to his senses.

"Pikachu..." Ash spoke in a faint voice. "Thanks for that... I'm okay now..." He struggled onto his knees and elbows, appearing to be tired. His face could barely be seen beneath the brim of his cap. "Come here..."

"Pikapi!" Pikachu happily ran toward Ash and let him pick him up by one arm. He didn't notice the other hand straying toward a pocket, reaching inside and pulling out a knife crusted with dry blood. Then he looked into Ash's eyes and saw that they were still blacker than night, not the chocolate colour he was so used to.

"Pikachu, look out!" Dawn screamed.

It was too late for Pikachu as the knife slashed across his chest and he went flying, staring up at the sky in horror as his back impacted with the ground. Tiny droplets of blood scattered on the grass where they had spilled during his descent to the ground. The scarlet fluid welled up from the deep cut left on his chest. "Pikapi..." he whispered.

The blood felt warm as it splattered onto Ash's face. He stared blankly at the mouse Pokémon lying on the ground, his vacant expression slowly changing to one of horror. His eyes gradually turned from a dull black to a warm brown as he continued to stare.

"Pikachu..." Ash whispered in a faint voice, his eyes growing wide.

It was his own beloved Pikachu, his best friend, lying on the ground before him with blood coming out of his body. He was the one who had hurt his dearest friend. The knife fell from his hand and he started crawling toward Pikachu, a whimper issuing from his throat.

How could he have hurt Pikachu?

Pikachu looked toward Ash as he crawled over and saw that he was indeed himself. "Pikapi," he spoke, smiling weakly at his trainer. Pikachu was so glad that Ash was now back to normal.

"No... Pikachu..." Ash put his hands on Pikachu's body, not caring as they got stained with blood. His eyes watered and he started to sob. "It can't be... I couldn't have... PIKACHU!" he cried out in a gut wrenching voice.

Suddenly, a warm blue light appeared around Pikachu. Ash looked down at the light with a shocked expression, wondering what was happening. He could feel a faint tingling from his hands and had the odd feeling that somehow it was him doing it.

"What is that light?" Dawn asked.

"It looks like Aura," Brock responded, looking puzzled. "Could it be that Ash is using his own Aura?"

"Pikachu... please heal!" Ash begged, tears leaking from his eyes and splashing onto the ground. "You have to get better!" He closed his eyes and concentrated, willing for Pikachu to be healed. A moment later, he opened his eyes to see that the wound was closed and Pikachu was looking much better.

"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed joyfully. He was no longer hurting where the knife had hit him and knew that the wound was gone.

Ash beamed, taking his hands away from Pikachu and watching the light fade. "Thank goodness."

"Pikapi!" Pikachu jumped into his arms and smiled, glad to be reunited with his trainer at last.

"Oh, Pikachu, I missed you so much," Ash said as he hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry that I hurt you."

"Chu, pika." Pikachu shook his head and smiled, telling him that he didn't blame him in the least for it.

Ash got to his feet and Brock and Dawn came running over to him. "Hey, Brock, Dawn. What's been happening? The King of Pokélantis came back all of a sudden and I have no idea what's been happening since. He hasn't done anything too bad, has he?"

"Apart from killing a man?" Dawn asked.

"Don't forget Meowth!" Jessie exclaimed as she and James hurried over.

"Yeah, that freaky King hurt him, so he's recovering in the Pokémon Center right now," James added. "That King sure was scary."

"The King of Pokélantis." Ash gritted his teeth angrily. "He's just evil. I can't believe what he's done. Why did he even have to come back?"

"We have to figure out a way to get rid of him." Brock frowned intently. "He's still inside of you after all, isn't he?"

"We can't let him hurt any more people either." Dawn swallowed a lump in her throat. "It would be just awful if more people had to get hurt."

"Yeah." Ash dropped Pikachu to the ground and walked over toward the bloodied knife, staring intently at it. He reached down and picked it up, gazing at the blood upon its surface. "It certainly would." He turned around and started slowly walking toward Dawn, his eyes once again dull and black.

The only indication anybody had that something was wrong yet again was when Ash raised the knife, aiming it toward Dawn's chest. All they had time to do was watch on in horror and call out a warning while Dawn threw her arms over her head and cried out.

A few tense, quiet seconds followed and Dawn lowered her arms, opening her eyes and looking at Ash's warm, brown gaze. He was back to normal yet again all of a sudden, but what had become of the knife? Her eyes trailed down and a hand flew to her mouth as she let out a horrified cry.

The knife's handle was sticking out of Ash's stomach, his hand still tightly wrapped around it, and the blade was embedded deeply within him. Scarlet fluid was already dripping it, splashing onto the grass below.

"You okay, Dawn?" Ash managed a weak smile, before collapsing to his knees and falling over onto the ground, his eyes sliding shut.

"No... Ash!" Dawn screamed, tears building up in her eyes. How could this be happening? How come Ash had stabbed himself? Was it to save her from being hurt? Her body shook with horror as she continued to stare at him, sobs bursting from her throat. Brock, Jessie and James clustered around them, looking horrified as they gazed down at Ash.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu wailed, frantically shaking Ash's shoulder. Tears leaked down his cheeks as he realised that Ash was badly hurt.

"We've got to help him, and fast!" Brock exclaimed. "If we don't, he's going to die!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Ancient Enemy**

* * *

Ash was within the dark place in his mind once more, lying on the ground with his hands pressed against his stomach. There was no blood there nor an injury, but he could still feel the deep throbbing within in the same place where his body had been injured. What had he been thinking, plunging the knife into himself like that? Still, it had been better than letting the King keep his control on him and stabbing Dawn, which was exactly what he had been about to do. Ash had broken through the control again at the last possible second and ended up hurting himself instead.

A chill of fear ran through his body as he wondered how serious the wound could be. What if he had made a fatal mistake and he was going to die because of it?

The sound of footsteps slowly approached and Ash raised his head to look toward the King of Pokélantis, who gazed at him with cold fury. His eyes were narrow and his mouth turned down at the corners, showing his clear displeasure.

"What did you think you were doing, brat?" the King snapped angrily. "Not only did you have the nerve to break my control, you even stabbed yourself. Do you have any idea what the consequences of your foolish action might be?"

Ash got to his feet, trying to ignore the pain throbbing within him and returned the King's furious stare with one of his own. "You used me to hurt my friends!" he exclaimed. "You made me hurt Pikachu and then you tried to make me stab Dawn as well. That was a really rotten thing to do." He clenched his fists, looking defiant. "I don't care how many times you try to control me, I'll just keep fighting back until I figure out a way to get rid of you."

"If you end up bleeding to death, you'll have a pretty poor chance of doing anything," the King responded sourly. "You should know better than to mess with me, the great King of Pokélantis!" His face twisted in malice and he raised his hands, forming a large ball of dark energy.

There was no time for Ash to dodge the energy as it came rushing at him and it struck him directly in the chest, causing him to fly backward and land on the floor with a hard thud. He let out a loud groan and clenched his teeth as pain shot up his back. He heard the King walking toward him and weakly raised his head to look up into the King's smirking face.

"You aren't going to escape from me so easily, brat. Do you think your friends would just stand by and let you bleed to death after you stabbed yourself? I know you're going to pull through this somehow, and when you do, I'll be ready." The King started to fade from view until he was gone and Ash was once more alone in the darkness, but he knew the King was still there somewhere inside of him, waiting for the moment to strike again.

Ash sat up and rubbed his chest where the energy ball had hit him, grimacing. It really had been a crazy thing to do, stabbing himself and putting his life at risk so that Dawn wouldn't be hurt but on the plus side, it had at least put the King in commission for a little while. He wasn't too concerned about his fate, knowing that the King was right. Brock and Dawn would do all they could to save him and he trusted them to do so. The wound hadn't been too serious, had it? He couldn't really remember, having passed out from the pain so quickly after driving the knife into his body.

His surroundings were suddenly lit up and Ash found himself inside what appeared to be in a small room with a door before him. The young Pokémon trainer warily got to his feet, wondering what kind of game the King was playing with him this time. He figured nothing too bad would happen if he at least opened the door and approached it, taking hold of the handle and twisting it until the door opened. When he looked through the doorway, he gasped.

Thick plumes of smoke could be seen in the air, hanging over a city partly awash in flames. All the buildings that he could see were crumbled and the scorched ground was littered with rubble. Ash warily stepped through the doorway, startled as he felt the scorching heat from the flames simmering in the air. Ash looked around with wide eyes at the burning city, realising that he was again seeing ancient Pokélantis, this time in the aftermath of Ho-Oh's attack.

"How awful," Ash whispered, his eyes watering as they stung from the heat. He reached up to rub them and walked along a path littered with cracks, taking care to avoid any holes he saw in the ground and to stay away from the burning buildings. His attention drifted toward the hungry flames licking at the nearby buildings and his foot suddenly trod on something soft. Ash jumped back in alarm and looked down to see an arm. A cry of horror burst from his throat and he backed away even more, a shudder of revulsion passing through his body.

Rubble was not the only thing lining the street. The people of Pokélantis were dead, sprawled out over the ground of what had once been their home and their bodies were everywhere. Ash tried not to look into their glazed over eyes as he wandered past, his skin crawling. He had never seen a dead body before, apart from that one time but Aaron had not been a burned and broken body lying in the street with open eyes filled with terror. This was an entirely different situation altogether and it creeped him out. The acrid smell of rotting flesh hung in the air, making Ash want to throw up, but he couldn't.

Ash broke into a run, not wishing to hang around the ruined city. There had to be some way to get out of here again, away from the dead bodies and the treacherous fires. Could the fire actually hurt him? He didn't want to hang around and find out. Soon, he came toward a wide open area and caught sight of a wide circle of grey stone, the destroyed figure of what was once a stone Magikarp lying in the middle of it. It appeared to be the Magikarp fountain that he had seen previously, which meant he was in the city square again.

As he hurried across the square, he soon saw the palace and came to a stop, looking at the large building. The palace had definitely seen better days. Half of it had been blasted apart by Ho-Oh and was now a collapsed pile of rubble. The rest of the building was scorched and and ruined beyond repair with large cracks and gaping holes on the front and the other side. Ash carefully made his way up the partly destroyed steps and hurried through the doorway, entering the King's palace. Sunlight streamed in through wide holes in the walls, illuminating the entrance hall. A red carpet stretched ahead, guiding him toward a large stone door. Ash approached the door and it slid up with a guttural creak, inviting him to enter the hallway within.

However, he never got to see inside as everything faded to black. Ash blinked rapidly as he found himself standing in a new room and realised that it was familiar. The torches lining the wall and the throne right next to the closed door with a large statue above it told him exactly where he was. He was now inside the King's chamber, within the underground ruins and it was the place where the King of Pokélantis had possessed him for the very first time.

Ash was not alone in the room. The King himself was standing before his throne, holding the stone ball in one hand and gazing at it intensely.

"Ho-Oh, I swear," the King rasped in a deep voice. "One day, I am going to avenge my city and my people, then I will achieve my dreams of taking over the world. Yes, even if I must wait a great many years for it to happen. You should have been the one trapped inside of here, but my spirit will do. It's not like I have anything left now, is it?" He placed the stone ball upon the throne, a dry chuckle emitting from his throat. "Perhaps I will be sealed in it for eternity, but it doesn't matter as this way I can live forever, waiting for the day I will be freed. I have hope that the day will come."

Ash stared, his eyes widening as he saw the King extract a dagger with a long blade from within his robes. He wondered what the King could possibly be about to do with such a thing. The King turned the knife around until the blade was pointing toward his chest, a grin spreading across his face. Ash gasped and instinctively reached up to cover his eyes as the next thing the monarch did was to plunge the knife deep within his chest, in the place where his heart was beating soundly.

The horrified boy peered through his fingers a few seconds later to see the King kneeling before the throne, laying a shaky hand on the stone ball. Blood trickled out the side of his mouth and he spoke in a faint voice. "Light, come forth from the dark and return to the dark. Dark, come forth from the light and return to the dark."

Ash lowered his hands, watching on in horrified fascination as the King was surrounded by a dark aura that rushed from his body and into the stone ball. When it was over, the King of Pokélantis slumped over onto the ground, his eyes staring ahead blankly. A cold feeling ran through Ash's body as he looked into the King's dead eyes and he slowly approached the throne, looking at the stone ball with a perturbed expression.

It seemed completely absurd that the King would have killed himself just to get revenge, even going so far as to seal his soul for what could have been forever in the hope of getting revenge. Had the loss of his city and his people driven him over the edge and into insanity? Ash still couldn't even fathom why an entire civilisation had been destroyed, all because of one greedy ruler. It all seemed so wrong somehow and he wasn't sure Ho-Oh had done the right thing all those years ago.

Suddenly, a hand shot out and clamped around his throat. Ash gasped as he found himself within the strong grip and looked down into the dark eyes of the King, in the form of Ash himself this time. The chamber dissolved into darkness all around him as he struggled and tried to break away.

"My people were killed, every single one of them, and my proud city was destroyed," the King hissed, putting his face close. "I lost my chance to claim ultimate power, but I am never going to give up on my dream. I won't let you get in my way, you infernal brat." His mouth twisted into a smirk as he pulsed with dark energy. The same energy flowed into Ash, causing him to let out a choked scream of pain at the burning sensation that rushed through his body. It lasted for several seconds before the King stopped and flung Ash to the floor. "It might be a good sign that you are not dead yet. Don't ever try such a foolish thing again or I assure you, you will come to regret it."

Then the King faded away yet again and Ash felt himself regaining control of his own body once more. His eyes flew open and he looked up at an unfamiliar ceiling, realising that he was lying in a comfortable bed.

"Where am I?" Ash murmured, slowly blinking and turning his head. He guessed that he had to be in a hospital room of some sort. His things had been neatly placed on an end table next to the bed.

"Pikapi?" spoke a hopeful voice from the end of the bed. Ash raised his head and looked toward Pikachu, his face splitting in a grin.

"Hey, Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed, holding out his arms. Pikachu happily jumped into his arms and nuzzled against his chest. Ash hugged him tightly, sighing in relief. "I guess I didn't hurt myself too badly when I stabbed myself with that knife. It was a crazy thing to do, but at least Dawn didn't get hurt. That would have been even worse." He fell quiet, remembering when he had been controlled and hurt Pikachu. "I healed you, didn't I? That was really strange."

"Pika." Pikachu looked up at his trainer fondly.

"It felt like Aura, didn't it... I can't remember too well. It's all kind of fuzzy and I'm a bit confused." Ash stroked Pikachu's fur, gazing ahead with a curious expression on his face. "I don't really remember anything about being controlled either. Maybe that's just as well, I'm not sure I want to know what I was doing. I can't believe that the King actually made me hurt you like that, with that knife, and I could have even killed Dawn if I didn't break the control." He shuddered and bit his bottom lip. "That evil King has got to be stopped."

The door opened and Ash looked up to see Brock and Dawn standing in the doorway. They both appeared delighted to see that he was awake.

"Ash!" Dawn rushed across the room to wrap her arms around him in a tight hug. Her eyes welled up with tears. "Why did you do it? Don't you realise that you could have died from that injury?" She choked back a sob. "You did that just so I wouldn't get hurt?"

"Hey, come on, Dawn, I'm okay, aren't I?" Ash smiled at her. "Anyway, I couldn't let you get stabbed, could I?"

"It was lucky we were able to get you to the hospital in time." Brock walked over, placing his hands on his hips. "Fortunately for you, the knife didn't cut all that deep and you didn't hit anything important when you stabbed yourself. Still, don't you think you could have maybe just thrown the knife away instead?"

"It was all happening so fast," Ash said sheepishly. "Shaking off the control wasn't that easy either. I guess it just seemed like the simplest thing to do at the time." He looked aside as Jessie and James came into the room. "Hey, what is Team Rocket doing here anyway? Oh... that's right." Now he remembered, right before the King had regained control of him, they had told him that Meowth was hurt by the King of Pokélantis. "I don't remember much of what was happening back then. My memory's kind of fuzzy and I don't remember what I was doing when I was under his control. I didn't do anything too bad, did I? Apart from hurting Pikachu..."

"You were having a battle with all of us and using your Pokémon," Dawn explained. "We were having a pretty hard time battling you. Our Pokémon were going down really quick."

"Wow, I don't remember any of that," Ash commented. He couldn't help feeling a little pride at the knowledge that his Pokémon had been doing so well, but thought it better not to mention it. It would just be in poor taste at a time like this.

"It ended up with a battle between Pikachu and Buneary," Brock added. "As you can imagine, Buneary wasn't too pleased."

"Yeah... Pikachu was under a spell somehow," Dawn said. "I guess you did something to him when you were controlled, you even had him shock us. Buneary wouldn't fight back and Pikachu broke off the spell, then he hit you with Thunderbolt. I guess he thought it might help you break the control."

"Pika." Pikachu nodded.

"That was when you retaliated and Pikachu got hurt," the Pokémon breeder spoke. "Then you finally broke the control."

"What was up with that strange thing you did anyway?" Jessie wondered. "You had that weird blue light coming from your hands and then Pikachu was completely healed."

"The tall twerp said something about Aura," James recalled. "Sounds like it would be a nifty power to use. I'd sure like to be able to heal my bruises and broken bones after blasting off."

"Yeah, I guess it was Aura..." Ash said quietly. "I don't exactly know how it happened or how that was even possible. It sure surprised me." He looked at Team Rocket with a guilty expression. "I'm sorry about what happened to Meowth. I hope that he wasn't hurt too badly."

"Ah, don't worry. Meowth is going to be fine." James waved a hand dismissively, smiling. "We're tougher than we look, you know."

"Anyway, it wasn't you who hurt Meowth and we know that. It was that freaky King dude," Jessie chimed in.

"It could have been a lot worse. The King even killed an innocent man, and I think he's planning on having more victims." Ash lowered his head, looking glum. "He showed me things in my mind... I had to see Pokélantis being destroyed by Ho-Oh. It was awful. Everyone in that city was killed because of Ho-Oh's wrath, except the King himself who was responsible for it in the first place. It just wasn't fair at all. I even had to see their bodies." He shook his head and sighed. "How could Ho-Oh do that?"

"The King tried to use Ho-Oh's power to take over the world, right?" Brock recalled. "I imagine Ho-Oh can't have been too happy. It may have been completely lost in its wrath. That does happen sometimes."

"It is sad, but that's no excuse for the King of Pokélantis to keep living on and doing evil things." Dawn frowned. "He needs to be put away for good."

"Yeah. Somehow, I'm going to make sure he pays for all this." Ash raised a clenched fist. "I'll find a way to deal with the King of Pokélantis. He's not going to get away with it."

Later on, Ash was able to leave the hospital and returned with Brock and Dawn to the Pokémon Center. Jessie and James went their separate ways, not willing to stay at the Pokémon Center. It would only be too much temptation for them and they knew everyone would be watching them like a hawk to make sure they didn't help themselves to the Pokémon that weren't theirs.

Brock and Dawn were surprised when Ash asked Nurse Joy to give him a room to himself and also to lock the door, but they understood why. Ash was trying his best to make sure he couldn't hurt anybody, even if it meant shutting himself in a room alone all night. He wouldn't even allow Pikachu to stay in the room with him and handed over his other Pokémon to Brock and Dawn to take care of. It was possible that the King could use them to try and break free, and Ash wouldn't take that risk.

"Do you really think this will work?" the King spoke in Ash's mind, as he lay in bed that night, waiting to fall asleep. "You cannot protect everyone from me forever, brat." He finished off with a laugh.

Ash ignored him and closed his eyes, pulling the cover over his head. Soon, he swore, the King of Pokélantis would be gone. He certainly did not intend on losing this fight and he was never going to let anyone get hurt again if he could help it. Somehow, he would find a way.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ancient Enemy**

* * *

A knock on the door awoke Ash from his sleep and he sat up in bed, feeling confused for a moment when he saw that he was completely alone. Then he remembered that he had chosen to isolate himself the night before and relaxed. It seemed that the King hadn't tried to do anything in the night, which was a relief.

The door opened and Nurse Joy peered through. "Your friends are already up," she told him. "Are you planning to join them for breakfast?"

"Sure, tell them I'll be there soon," Ash replied. "Thanks, Nurse Joy." As the door closed, he slipped out of bed and quickly got dressed, picking up his bag and heading out of the room. When he got to the cafeteria, he saw that Brock and Dawn were already there.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu happily ran up to greet him, smiling in delight. Even though it had just been one night that he wasn't sleeping by Ash's side, he had still been missing him.

"Hey there, Pikachu. You doing okay?" Ash scooped him up in a hug. He walked over to the table and sat down in the empty chair. "Well, nothing happened last night, it seems. So that's just as well. I bet things would have been different if I hadn't got Nurse Joy to lock me in alone."

"Right. It would surely be bad news for the Pokémon Center if there were more bodies," Dawn spoke in a sombre tone. "But, Ash, you can't keep locking yourself away. It just isn't fair for you."

"Don't worry, I'm going to figure something out. No more innocent people are going to die." Ash lowered his head, biting his lower lip. "That poor man. How could the King kill him when he had nothing to do with any of this? It was such an evil thing to do."

"I'll never forget what it was like to find that body." Brock shivered slightly. "It was just awful. I couldn't even begin to describe what I felt." He shook his head and fell silent, deciding not to speak on the subject anymore. It was still too hard to talk about and didn't exactly make for pleasant breakfast conversation.

"I just hope you're not going to risk your life again," Dawn said quietly, gazing at Ash intensely. "It really freaked me out when you stabbed yourself yesterday."

"Believe me, I don't want to risk my life, but I will do whatever it takes to get rid of the King." Ash stood up, pushing back his chair with a loud scrape. "Well, I'm getting something to eat now." He turned and walked away.

"At least we got rid of the knife," Brock said, resting his arms on the table. "The King doesn't have too many ways to deal with us and we won't have to worry about Ash stabbing himself again. He can be quite reckless at times."

"Yeah." Dawn nodded. "Ash really is trying his best though and I'm sure he's going to figure out something sooner or later. He's always been pretty good at dealing with tough situations, hasn't he?"

"That's true. Still, we should be careful," Brock said. "We may not know entirely what the King of Pokélantis is capable of, so we have to be on our guard."

Ash returned to the table with a plateful of food and silently ate his breakfast with a thoughtful expression on his face. He had barely finished eating his food when a loud roaring sound was heard above the building. Everyone in the cafeteria looked toward the windows in surprise, catching sight of a large object speeding away in the sky.

"What was that just now?" Dawn blinked in consternation. "It was way too big to be a helicopter or a plane, wasn't it?"

"It looks like the Battle Pyramid." Brock's face lit up. "Professor Oak must have managed to get through to Scott after all." Ash looked at him in confusion. "Oh, I forgot to tell you about that, didn't I? We contacted him yesterday by phone and asked him to get a hold of Scott, so that he could contact Brandon."

"So Brandon's here, then?" Ash stood up, pushing back the chair. "Okay, let's not waste any time sitting around. We have to hurry over to the Battle Pyramid!" He felt relieved knowing that the Pyramid King had arrived and hoped that Brandon would indeed be able to help, just as he had done last time.

Everyone rushed out of the Pokémon Center, hurrying through Pastoria City in the direction where they had seen the Battle Pyramid go. As they exited the city, they rushed past the spot where Team Rocket were camping without even noticing them. Jessie and James looked up from their breakfast, staring in the direction that everyone had just run off to.

"Doesn't it look like the twerps are going wherever the pyramid just went?" James wondered. "That was the Battle Pyramid we saw just now, wasn't it? I guess that old guy must have come over to help out and deal with that evil spirit."

Jessie set down her empty bowl and got to her feet, nodding. "Then let's go after them. I want to see that evil King get his just desserts after screwing around with us."

"Then after that, we can go and check on Meowth and see how he's doing," James said. The two of them then took off running after Ash, Brock and Dawn.

The Battle Pyramid had landed a short distance away from the city and the entrance was already opening when the trio came running up. Brandon shortly came walking out of the pyramid and stopped when he caught sight of Ash and his companions.

"I didn't expect you all to come here so quickly. Well, it certainly saves me the trip." Brandon looked at Ash, his countenance becoming serious. "I heard that you were having trouble with the King of Pokélantis again."

Ash nodded his head slightly, looking glum. "He came for me the other night and he even killed a man who had nothing to do with any of this. Right now, his spirit is still inside of me and I'm still trying to figure out what to do. Yesterday... my friends could have been killed." He swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Is there anything that you can do, Brandon?" Brock asked anxiously.

"Ash, have you tried using Pikachu to shock him out of you?" Brandon enquired, rubbing his chin. "Also, do you know where the stone ball that contained the King's spirit is?"

"Pikachu hit Ash with a shock yesterday and it didn't even do anything," Dawn jumped in before Ash could answer. "So I don't think that's going to work."

"He's prepared for it," Ash said faintly. "It won't work this time around. I'm not even sure where that stone ball is either." His eyes flickered with fear. "If we don't know where it is, does that mean that the King can't be sealed away again?"

"Don't worry, we'll find a way to seal that King somehow," Brandon said in a firm voice. "If we could just find some kind of object-" He broke off at the sound of a deep chuckle and stared with wide eyes as Ash's body began shaking with laughter. Brock and Dawn stepped away, watching him with alarmed expressions. Pikachu jumped down from Ash's shoulder and backed away as well, startled by the sudden appearance of their terrifying nemesis.

"Seal me away again? What a joke!" the King of Pokélantis spat out, a sneer twisting Ash's face. "I even managed to get away from you once, who's to say it won't happen again? Not that you will even get the chance, because I'm going to make you pay for sealing me away again and then I'll make this brat pay too. All you pathetic humans are going to die by my hands." He clenched a fist, his mouth twisting in an evil grin.

"The King's taken over again," Dawn spoke in a worried voice, her eyes shimmering with anxiety. "Ash! Fight back already!"

"It's useless," the King stated, the demonic energy surrounding Ash's body pulsing rapidly. "He can't stop me." He raised his hands and dark spheres formed within his palms, rapidly growing in size until he flung them through the air toward Brock and Dawn. The unexpected attack happened so quickly that they were unable to react and were sent flying through the air as the spheres impacted with their bodies, crying out in pain. They hit the ground hard and struggled to sit up, looking up at the King with horrified gazes.

"Stop!" Brandon prepared to reach for a Poké Ball. "If you want to have a battle, then I will give you one. Just leave Ash's friends out of this."

"You're next," the King snarled, raising a hand that crackled with energy. His grin widened as he prepared to unleash another attack, only to suddenly vanish. A surprised expression passed over his face for a brief second and a scream burst from his throat. However, the scream was not the King's voice, but Ash's. Before the King really knew what was happening, a powerful force was pushing at him, forcing him out and he couldn't fight back against it.

Everybody watched on in astonishment as a mass of dark energy rushed out of Ash's body and hovered in the air. Ash looked down at his hands with wide eyes, breathing heavily. He turned around and hurried toward Brock and Dawn, looking concerned. "Brock! Dawn! Are you both okay?"

Brandon stared at the dark cloud that was the King's spirit, gritting his teeth. He wasn't prepared for this situation just yet as there wasn't anything to seal the King with yet and had no idea what the King might be about to try next. As he continued to watch the dark mass of energy, a darker object at the centre of the cloud caught his eye and he gasped in astonishment, realising what that object was. By the look of things, the King had been hiding the stone sphere within himself the whole time.

"I'm okay." Dawn rubbed her side where the dark energy had struck her, wincing slightly. "It just hurt a bit, that's all."

"More importantly, the King is out of your body now," Brock stated, looking at the dark cloud. "Now what are we supposed to do about it?"

Ash turned around and looked at the mass of energy in bewilderment. "I actually managed to force him out by myself?" he spoke in a wondering tone.

"Accursed brat!" the King howled angrily. "How dare you force me out of your body. I'll be taking it right back if you don't mind." The dark cloud suddenly rushed through the air, zooming straight toward Ash as the King prepared to reclaim his body.

"Ash, look out!" Dawn exclaimed, her eyes widening in horror.

There was no time to get away, and even if he could, there was nowhere else to go. Ash cried out and flung out his hands as if to shield himself, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth. Any second now, the King's spirit would surely be back inside his body and he would be possessed once more. However, the seconds slowly trickled past and he became aware of a faint tingling in his hands. Ash warily opened his eyes to see a blue wall before him, forming a dome that surrounded him as well as Brock and Dawn. The King was outside the wall, apparently unable to break through and get through to him.

"It's your Aura again." Brock looked around at the dome in surprise. "Amazing."

"The stone ball that is needed to seal the King is right there inside the cloud!" Brandon called out to them. "It's within him. If we can get it away from the King, then he can be sealed again."

"You dare to defy me, brat?" the King hissed, drawing away from the barrier. "Then I shall just take the thing most precious to you and destroy it from the inside." He broke off with a chilling laugh.

Ash's gaze dropped toward Pikachu, who was too far away to have been protected by the barrier, and he let out a horrified gasp as he realised what the King was talking about. As the King darted through the air, Ash released the barrier and started running as fast as he could, desperate to reach Pikachu before the King could. "Pikachu!" Ash screamed, flinging himself on top of the mouse Pokémon at the last possible second. At the same time, the spirit struck him from behind and he cried out in pain as the King rushed back into his body, tearing his way inside.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu squeaked out in a shocked voice as his trainer rolled limply over onto his back with his eyes closed. As he anxiously shook his body, Brandon, Brock and Dawn rushed over to kneel beside Ash, anxiously checking on him.

"It seems that Ash is just unconscious," Brock muttered. "But how come he isn't waking up?"

"Did the King do something to him?" Dawn asked in a fearful sounding voice. "I don't even understand what's going on. Why is Ash out cold?"

"We'll take him inside and watch over him." Brandon gently lifted Ash up in his arms and walked back to the Battle Pyramid with Brock and Dawn following behind. "I don't know what the King is up to, but if we can just get him out of there again, then it should be possible to seal him once more. Whatever is happening in his body, it's up to Ash to fight back. All we can do for the moment is wait."

Inside the darkness within his mind, Ash looked around with an angry gaze. "Where are you?" he shouted, clenching his fists. "I swear I'm going to teach you a lesson this time!" The King had hurt his friends and tried to take control of Pikachu in order to harm him, something that was guaranteed to provoke Ash's fury.

"You, teach me a lesson?" The amused sounding voice drifted over to Ash, causing him to whirl around. Light filled his surroundings, revealing that he was inside the King's chambers. Of course, he knew it was merely an illusion of the mind and he wasn't really in that place itself. The King sat upon the throne, smirking as he watched Ash with a cold, dark gaze. "What can you possibly do to me? Have you forgotten that I am the one with powers here? A weak and puny brat like you can't do anything to me!" He sat back and raised his head, his chest shaking as he laughed.

"Oh, really?" Ash spoke in a calm, deadly voice.

The King's laughter faded away and he opened his eyes, a shocked expression forming on his face as a shining blue sphere rushed through the air toward him. It caught him in the chest and slammed him hard into the throne, causing him to grunt in pain. He hunched over, clenching his teeth as he recovered from the attack. "Damn you," he spat out. "I have tolerated your impudence for long enough. It's time to erase your existence, permanently."

"Yeah? We'll just see about that." Ash raised a hand, forming another Aura Sphere. At the same time, the King created a dark ball of energy, and they released them together. The two spheres collided in mid-air, creating a small explosion.

"Is that all you can do?" The King sneered as he walked toward Ash. "I knew of Aura Guardians with powers far greater than yours. Of course, you aren't one of them and it's painfully clear. How do you expect to defeat me in that way?" He suddenly came to a stop and smirked, tendrils of demonic energy shooting forward and wrapping themselves around Ash's body.

Ash gasped as he was lifted into the air, his arms and legs bound so tightly together that he couldn't move a muscle. He looked down at the King's smirking face and gritted his teeth angrily, struggling to break free of the bonds that held him.

"Yes, that's right. Struggle for your life." The King chuckled darkly, his eyes flashing with amusement. "How feeble you are." The tendrils wrapped around Ash's body suddenly crackled and tightened, causing Ash to scream in agony. The King continued to send the energy flowing into him, smiling as the screams of pain rang in his ears. Eventually, he had had enough and waved an arm, releasing the tendrils of energy and sending Ash crashing into the floor.

Immediately, Ash leaped off the floor and ran toward him, yelling as he swung a fist and prepared to strike the King. He felt some satisfaction as he managed to punch the King square in the stomach and heard a pained gasp.

"Impressive. You can still move so fast even after that," the King said in a sour voice, taking a step back. "How long do you think you can hold out against my power?" He pressed his hands together, a dark blade taking shape in front of him, the end held firmly within his clasped hands.

Ash stared at the blade with wide eyes and hurriedly leaped back, just as the King raised it and swung hard. The blade whizzed down, missing him by mere inches, and a cold feeling trickled through him. The King was not an opponent to be taken lightly and he couldn't afford to be careless now. The King charged at him, smirking as he swung the blade of dark energy at Ash again. The young trainer hurriedly backed away, trying not to get hit by the deadly looking blade.

When his back suddenly hit the wall, Ash froze in horror. The blade whizzed toward his neck and he gasped, hurriedly holding out his hands and praying for his Aura to aid him once more. Immediately, a barrier flickered around him and the blade bounced harmlessly off the surface.

"How pathetic. You can't protect yourself like that forever," the King growled, pulling his hands apart and letting the blade dissipate into nothing. He stepped back and started charging up energy, forming a gigantic sphere of darkness between his hands. "Let's see how much of my power it takes to break that barrier."

As the sphere collided with the barrier, Ash felt a jolt running down his body and he winced. It was taking most of his energy to hold this barrier in place and he was starting to feel tired already. The next one sent another shock running through his body, as did the third and then the fourth. Beads of sweat formed on his head as he struggled to keep the barrier where it was. The tingling in his hands had now become an intense, fiery pain, but still he desperately held on.

The sixth sphere struck the barrier hard and it fell apart in a shower of blue fragments, leaving Ash completely vulnerable. He suddenly felt drained of all energy and fell to his knees, gasping. His pale face was shining with sweat.

"Is that all you've got?" the King asked mockingly. He reached out and took hold of Ash by the front of his vest, pulling him to his feet and slammed him into the wall. "This is just too easy." He raised a hand, the fingers transforming into long, sharp claws which he plunged into Ash's gut.

Ash went rigid, releasing a choked scream of agony. The sheer pain he felt as the King twisted his claws around inside of him and grasped the soft, vulnerable flesh within was unbelievable. It had to be the worst pain he had ever experienced.

The King smiled darkly as he grasped whatever he had a hold of, digging in his claws and chuckling as he heard Ash let out another scream. He looked up at Ash's face, which had turned whiter than a sheet, and felt a thrill of pleasure as a thin line of blood started to run from the side of his mouth.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" The King sharply yanked out his hand and raised the bloody claws, smiling as he stuck out his tongue and licked off the crimson fluid.

Ash shuddered in disgust as he watched the King lick at his own blood, feeling sickened to the core. His stomach had been consumed in raging agony and he could hardly breathe for the pain that was wracking his body. He bit down on his lower lip, struggling not to give the King the satisfaction of seeing him cry from the pain.

"It really is too much trouble, having two souls in one body." The King slashed at Ash's chest, raking his claws deep into the flesh. Ash whimpered as the claws dug through him, bringing forth fresh bursts of pain. Blood welled up in the jagged cuts and started to drip down steadily in scarlet rivers, staining his clothes. "It would be so much better if I had your body to myself." The King brushed his hand over the area where Ash's beating heart lay, running his tongue over his lips. It was a tempting idea to simply rip Ash's heart from his chest, but he wouldn't do that. Ash would die much too quickly and he wanted him to suffer for a bit longer.

Ash closed his eyes and quietly groaned in pain and fear, a numb feeling settling in his gut. The King had him trapped and he was going to slowly kill him. How was he going to get himself out of this situation?

_"Pikapi!"_

Ash's eyes flew open in shock and he looked straight at the King, his brow furrowing in confusion. Hadn't he heard Pikachu just now? Pikachu couldn't possibly be in here with him though. Was his mind playing tricks on him?

_"Ash, hold on!" _Dawn's shrill, panicked voice could be heard clearly. It sounded as if she was in tears. _"Don't let the King do this to you!"_

_"We know you can do this, Ash." _Brock's firm, reassuring voice joined in. _"You have to fight him!"_

_"Listen to your friends!" _Brandon's voice came next. _"They believe in you and so do I. You can beat the King of Pokélantis, Ash."_

The encouraging voices of his friends was all Ash needed to restore his confidence and energy. He was the only one who could beat the King right now and if he didn't, then he was going to die. It was simple as that. He was absolutely not going to die here, not if he could help it.

"How should I kill you? There are so many possibilities." The King stroked Ash's cheek with one claw, his eyes shining with malice. "Of course, there's no better way to kill you than to give you a slow and painful death." His smile widened. "I'll make you scream for a little while, then I'll give you the blessed release of death."

"You're right," Ash said faintly. The King cocked his head, giving him a curious look. "It is too much trouble to have two souls in one body."

The King frowned, confused by Ash's statement. He didn't see the shining blue sphere forming within Ash's limp hand and was caught off guard when Ash suddenly slammed the hand against his chest, directly on the spot where his heart would be. The sphere grew in size and the King screamed in agony as it tore through him, his body dissolving into nothing.

Ash dropped to his knees and weakly looked up to see a purple cloud above his head, the stone ball contained within its centre. He quickly leaped up, paying no heed to the pain that was wracking his body, and reached out to seize the object. As he grasped it in his hand, he managed to wrench it away from the cloud.

"Light... come forth from the dark... and return to the dark..." Ash spoke in a strained voice, shakily holding out the stone ball. He could barely even stand anymore as he was sore and exhausted. "Dark... come forth from the light and return to... the dark..."

The King let out a horrified scream as he felt himself being sucked into the spherical object, unable to resist the spell. The dark cloud of energy rapidly poured into the ball until there was nothing left of it, and the button at the front shone with a faint blue light for a second. Ash gazed down at the stone sphere with a satisfied smile, falling to his knees.

"I did it," Ash whispered, his eyes sliding shut as exhaustion took its toll. He welcomed the darkness that washed over him, his body falling sideways onto the floor.

Brock, Dawn and Brandon were watching on anxiously the whole time. The spreading bloodstains beneath his clothes and the line of blood running from his mouth had given them cause for concern and they were praying that Ash would make it through somehow. Then they saw the stone ball suddenly appear in Ash's outstretched hand, sitting neatly in his palm.

"What is the meaning of this?" Brandon picked up the stone ball, staring at it in confusion. "Is the King sealed inside again?"

"Ash! Wake up!" Dawn anxiously shook his shoulder, biting her bottom lip in worry. "What's happening?"

"Pikapi..." Pikachu lowered his ears, deeply concerned by his trainer's plight.

Ash started to stir, a breathy moan passing through his lips. His eyelids fluttered as he returned to consciousness.

"Ash!" Brock exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

Ash opened his eyes, looking up at the three people standing over him. "I sealed him," he whispered. "The King... he's back inside..."

"Pikapi!" Pikachu happily embraced him, grinning.

"Ash, you're back!" Dawn looked immensely relieved. "Thank goodness. We were so worried about you, especially when you started bleeding. It was pretty scary to watch."

"I think I was more scared than you guys." Ash rubbed Pikachu's head, smiling. "The King was trying to kill me and it was really freaky." He tried to move and winced. "He really did a number on me. It still hurts a lot." He weakly raised his head and looked down at his bloodstained clothes, grimacing.

Brock reached out and unzipped Ash's vest, pushing up his shirt to look at the injuries. "That's nasty, alright, but I think you're going to be okay. We might just have to get you to the hospital again to be looked at but it's probably nothing to worry too much about."

"Good." Ash rested his head on the pillow beneath, exhaling heavily. "I guess it felt worse than it really was."

"You did a good job, Ash," Brandon spoke. "You managed to defeat the King of Pokélantis all by yourself. I apologise for my carelessness before, I simply had no idea that the King could be so sneaky and slip away like he did. It was completely unexpected." He gazed at the stone ball with a solemn expression. "I am going to put this where no human can ever find it and I assure you that nobody shall ever have to deal with the King of Pokélantis again."

"Thank goodness it's all over." Dawn smiled. "What a relief."

Brock had set his bag on the floor and started rummaging through it until he took out a box filled with bandages and other first aid necessities. "I'll just get you patched up first," he said to Ash, setting down the box. "Don't want those wounds getting infected."

"Sure." Ash closed his eyes. "I'm so tired... all I want to do is sleep."

"Poor Ash," Dawn said sympathetically. "You've just been through a lot. It's no wonder you're so tired."

"Get all the rest you need," Brandon spoke, smiling as he put away the stone sphere in his pocket. "You've earned it."

Jessie and James had been watching silently from the doorway the whole time, unseen by everyone in the room. Now that the trouble seemed to be over, they quietly retreated and walked back to the entrance to leave the Battle Pyramid.

"That twerp sure gets mixed up in some crazy stuff sometimes," James commented, putting his arms behind his head and smiling. "Sure glad that's all over. Stealing Pokémon is so much easier if we don't have to deal with crazy psychopaths."

"No kidding. I hope Meowth is going to get better soon. I'm already itching to grab Pikachu, but I suppose it wouldn't be fair to do it when the twerp's just had to deal with an evil spirit," Jessie spoke with longing. "Plus, Meowth would get mad at us for having fun without him. I guess it's only fair to wait."

"Yeah, as soon as Meowth gets better, it's back to doing what Team Rocket does best..." James paused. "Or should that be worst?"

"Who cares? One day, we'll get that Pikachu." Jessie raised a fist. "It's only a matter of time." She exchanged grins with her partner as they continued onward to Pastoria City, thinking ahead to when they could carry out their next scheme that involved stealing Pokémon.


End file.
